A tense calm gripped the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Friday on the eve of a momentous election that could turn the page on decades of misery and misrule.
Official campaigning ended at midnight to give voters a day of reflection before Sunday’s ballot, the most ambitious and expensive in Africa’s history. Warlords in eastern provinces promised not to disrupt voting and the Catholic Church decided against a boycott, boosting the chances of a high and peaceful turnout.
”We want there to be elections, we want to stop the fighting. We want peace,” a militia leader, Mathieu Ngudjolo, told the Associated Press.
A six-year war which cost four million lives officially ended in 2003, but the shaky interim government has struggled to quell armed groups that bring anarchy and terror to civilians. The country’s first taste of democracy in more than four decades is intended to produce a president and Parliament with a mandate to end conflict and corruption.
Sporadic clashes between rival groups left dozens dead and injured in the past week, and widespread allegations of intimidation and rigging fed a febrile atmosphere, but the build-up has been mostly peaceful. ”We’re ready for elections,” said Ross Mountain, the deputy United Nations special representative for DRC.
The challenge and stakes are enormous: 50 000 polling stations dotted across a country the size of western Europe, a shattered infrastructure requiring fleets of helicopters and canoes to transport ballot papers, huge rewards if things go well, incalculable costs if they do not.
The United Nations has invested — gambled, say sceptics — more than $460-million and 17 500 peacekeepers in what it considers a make-or-break moment for the continent. The European Union has sent 1 500 more troops in case of emergencies.
”DRC matters because it has been the largest humanitarian crisis in the world,” said Dmitry Titov, head of UN peacekeeping in Africa. ”It matters because the conflict impacted on huge territory throughout Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.”
Critics say the choice facing voters is too big: 33 presidential and 9 500 parliamentary candidates have produced a ballot of eight enormous pages. In a practice run in the capital, Kinshasa, people took an average of 28 minutes to vote. With many of the 25-million registered voters illiterate or semi-literate, there could be long delays — especially in rural areas.
A few well-funded candidates have festooned the former Belgian colony with campaign billboards and T-shirts and saturated their privately owned media outlets. The president, Joseph Kabila, who is favoured to keep his job, has also monopolised the state media.
Dirty tricks and bitter accusations — Kabila’s closest rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, this week denied being a cannibal — have generated more heat than light, leaving many voters animated but unsure about who stands for what. The mood could turn to anxiety during the weeks it will take to count the votes. If Mr Kabila does not win 50% he will be forced into a run-off with his nearest challenger in October.
Western diplomats and investors back the incumbent as the best chance for stability. ”The best thing that could happen is Kabila being elected,” said Rene Nolevaux, an executive with Katanga Mining, a Canadian company.
But some analysts worry about a soldier-turned president who has used state agencies to disrupt rivals’ campaigns, sometimes violently, and who remains an enigma to his own people. Kabila (35) inherited the job when his father, Laurent, was assassinated in 2001. Watchdogs such as Human Rights Watch accuse his aides of rampant corruption.
Opponents remind voters what happened the last time a young military man won power. Mobuto Sese Seko kept it for more than 30 years and set new standards of kleptocracy before being ousted. — Guardian Unlimited Â