DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: President Joseph Kabila and his electoral opponent Jean-Pierre Bemba are among those to cast their votes in second round of presidential elections

The Democratic Republic of Congo voted on Sunday (October 29) in a presidential election run-off intended to end decades of war and pillage that have left the huge country devastated and poor despite vast mineral riches. About 25 million people are registered to vote in the run-off between incumbent Joseph Kabila and former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, after the first round of the election on July 30. Kabila drove himself and his wife Olive Lembe Kabila to the polling station in the Gombe district of Kinshasa. Bemba also voted in Kinshasa. The vote, the first democratic poll in Democratic Republic of Congo for 40 years, will be accompanied by provincial elections but results are not expected for three weeks. It is meant to be the final step in a peace process after a 1998-2003 war, the bloodiest conflict since World War Two. More than 4 million people died in a humanitarian catastrophe caused by the war and 1,200 still perish every day. Thousands of gunmen roam the country. Blue helmeted U.N. soldiers in trucks and armoured personnel carriers patrolled Kinshasa's muddy streets and manned emplacements at strategic points on Sunday. A pre-dawn thunderstorm turned streets in Kinshasa into rivers and slowed voting when polling stations opened at 6 a.m. (0500 GMT). In eastern Congo, thousands of miles (kms) away where polls opened an hour earlier, electors queued patiently to cast their votes in the town of Bunia, in war-ravaged Ituri district. Voter Iye Gabu, was happy to see the tight security. "Security today is very tight. I can see the MONUC soldiers here and I can see our own policemen and we are happy with that," he said The country's 60 million people are desperate for peace and have high hopes the election will end their suffering and enable the former Belgian colony to fulfil its rich potential. But there are widespread fears the poll will spark more bloodshed instead of ushering in peace and reconstruction. Kabila received 45 percent of the votes in the first round on July 30 and is expected to win the poll. Ricky Ayoor, couldn't hold back his smile as he walked away after pushing his paper into the bright orange ballot box. "The first round of elections produced no result and now we are confident that we'll get a result and we'll have a president. We're very happy," he said. Supporters of Kabila and Bemba have clashed several times since the first round and in August their private armies fought three days of battles in the capital in which more than 30 people were killed. Congolese police killed two people when they opened fire to disperse rioting supporters of presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba during voting in the north of the country on Sunday, an official said. The police fired in the air after Bemba's supporters destroyed a polling station when they discovered alleged ballot stuffing in favour of Kabila, said Yves Mobando, governor of Equateur province. He said people were killed by stray bullets in the shooting in the town of Bumba, 800 km (500 miles) from Kinshasa. The governor said the official election commission denied there had been stuffing of ballot boxes. In Sunday's election, Kabila and Bemba are contesting control of Democratic Republic of Congo, a vast central African country rich in minerals but devastated by decades of violence and corrupt government. The presidential run-off is accompanied by provincial elections. The polls are the first democratic vote for more than 40 years in the former Belgian colony. They have brought in more arms and reinforcements since then. Bemba is believed to have 600 fighters in the chaotic capital, where Kabila is widely detested, and the president has 5,000 members of his personal guard in the city. Kabila is the son of assassinated President Laurent Kabila, who overthrew former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Mobutu looted the country during his 32-year rule.

ITN Source | October 29, 2006

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