Congo cleric in charge of poll

A CATHOLIC bishop who holds a senior post in his country's interim government has been appointed chief organiser of the forthcoming parliamentary elections in the Congo.
Bishop Ernest Kombo, 52year-old head of Owando diocese. was appointed after what was described as a lively all-night session on the elections held by the high council of the republic, Congo's interim parliament.
Bishop Kombo was drafted in after the council stripped Prime Minister Andre Milongo of his power to oversee the poll. The vote, due to take place on May 17, will now be taken on June 21 and July 5.
In 1990, Congo abandoned 2l years of one-party Marxist rule in favour of democracy. Approximately 40 per cent of the population is Catholic.
Bishop Kombo's role has been likened by observers to that of Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kisingani in neighbouring Zaire. The archbishop was elected last December to head his country's national reform commission after he and his fellow bishops had grown increasingly critical of the one-party rule of President Mobutu Sese Seko.
According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, priests are barred from holding political office.