CONGO
Commission urges vote delay
Voter registration for Congo’s November presidential election will not be completed until next year, the electoral commission president said Saturday, suggesting that the vote should be delayed. Independent National Electoral Commission President Corneille Nangaa said a voter register cannot be ready until at least July 2017 because of logistical problems in registering more than 30 million voters, and because of a lack of funds. The opposition has expressed concern that President Joseph Kabila would delay the Nov. 27 elections in order to remain in power beyond his mandate, which ends in December.
TURKEY
Premier opens door for Assad
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Saturday his country is willing to accept a role for Syrian President Bashar Assad during a transitional period but insisted he has no place in Syria’s future. The comments came after Assad’s forces began attacking Kurdish positions last week, leading some Kurdish officials to speculate that a Syrian-Turkish rapprochement was underway at the expense of Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria. Turkey is one of the main supporters of rebels fighting to overthrow Assad.
SOMALIA
Former prime minister dies
A former Somalia prime minister who lost a long U.S. court battle over accusations of killing and torture has died, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced Saturday. The president called Mohamed Ali Samantar a “genius” who had done a lot for his country. Samantar died in Virginia at age 85. He served throughout the 1980s under dictator Siad Barre. He later moved to the United States, where he was sued by seven Somalis who accused him of personally ordering the killings and torture of members of the minority Isaaq clan. After an eight-year legal battle that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, a judge in 2012 awarded $21 million to his accusers.
YEMEN
Huge rally supports rebels
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis rallied Saturday in the capital Sanaa to support a council set up by rebels to rule the war-torn country. Demonstrators, waving the national flag, packed the Sabeen Square and nearby streets. They chanted slogans backing the 10-member council that the rebel Houthis and allies loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced last month.
Compiled from wire reports