U.S. sends troops for possible ‘violent’ Congo vote protests

KINSHASA, CONGO >> On the eve of the first expected results of Congo’s long-delayed presidential election, President Donald Trump said military personnel had deployed to central Africa to protect U.S. assets from possible “violent demonstrations,” and the country’s powerful Catholic Church warned of a popular “uprising” if untrue results are announced.

Congo faces what could be its first democratic, peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960, but election observers and the opposition have raised concerns about voting irregularities as the country chooses a successor to longtime President Joseph Kabila. The first results are expected today, and the United States and the African Union, among others, have urged Congo to release results that reflect the true will of the people. The U.S. has threatened sanctions against those who undermine the democratic process. Western election observers were not invited to watch the vote.

Though Congo has been largely calm on and after the Dec. 30 vote, Trump’s letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about 80 military personnel and “appropriate combat equipment” had deployed to nearby Gabon to support the security of U.S. citizens and staffers and diplomatic facilities. More will deploy as needed to Gabon, Congo or neighboring Republic of Congo, he wrote.

The U.S. ahead of the vote ordered “nonemergency”