African Union delays delegates' trip to Kinshasa over vote result

The African Union has postponed sending a delegation to the DR Congo over the country's disputed presidential election after the Constitutional Court declared Felix Tshisekedi the victor, an AU spokeswoman said Sunday.

"All I can confirm at this time is that the trip has been postponed. We will release a statement shortly," said Ebba Kalando, spokeswoman for the head of the AU Commission, Chadian Moussa Faki.

This comment comes after an AU source earlier had said the pan-African organisation was cancelling its trip to Democratic Republic of Congo.

At a summit on Thursday, AU leaders had cited "serious doubts" about the election figures and called for the announcement of the final results to be delayed.

The European Union concurred with the AU assessment, a spokeswoman had said.

But the 16-nation Southern African Development Community congratulated Felix Tshisekedi, a longtime opposition leader, on Sunday for being declared president-elect and called for a peaceful handover of power.

The AU mission to Kinshasa, to be led by Faki and AU chairman Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, had originally been set for Monday.