{The U.S. said it was \u201cprofoundly disappointed\u201d by what it called the flawed electoral process in the Republic of Congo that extended President Denis Sassou Nguesso\u2019s 18-year rule.}<\/p>\n
\u201cWidespread irregularities and the arrests of opposition supporters following the elections marred an otherwise peaceful vote,\u201d the State Department said in a statement. It urged Congo\u2019s government \u201cto correct these numerous deficiencies before scheduling legislative elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nguesso easily won March\u2019s elections in the Central African oil-producing nation. His candidacy was contested by the opposition, which led protests against a referendum last year that allowed him to change the constitution and run again.<\/p>\n
The U.S. also expressed concern for the welfare of thousands of Congolese who fled their homes after gunfire and explosions in the capital earlier this week. Congo\u2019s government said at least 17 people died as gunmen opened fire on police stations and checkpoints in Brazzaville. It accused former militia member of orchestrating the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cA climate of fear works against the national unity and peace that the Congolese people deserve,\u201d the State Department said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{The U.S. said it was \u201cprofoundly disappointed\u201d by what it called the flawed electoral process in the Republic of Congo that extended President Denis Sassou Nguesso\u2019s 18-year rule.} \u201cWidespread irregularities and the arrests of opposition supporters following the elections marred an otherwise peaceful vote,\u201d the State Department said in a statement. It urged Congo\u2019s government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[99],"byline":[2583],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-24452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-bloomberg"],"bylines":[{"id":2583,"name":"Bloomberg","slug":"bloomberg","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2583,"name":"Bloomberg","slug":"bloomberg","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24452"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=24452"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=24452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}