Police killed two rioters in poll violence on Sunday as Congo voted in a presidential run-off intended to end decades of war and pillage that have left the country devastated despite its mineral riches.
The governor of the northerly Equateur province, Yves Mobando, told Reuters: ”Two people were killed when the police opened fire to disperse the crowds.”
He said the police intervened in the town of Bumba, 800km, from Kinshasa when supporters of presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba destroyed a polling station after alleging a ballot box had been stuffed with votes for his opponent, the incumbent President, Joseph Kabila.
He said the official electoral commission had dismissed the allegation.
International election monitors, who did not want to be identified, said turnout seemed lower around the country than at the same time in the first round on July 30.
A thunderstorm and heavy rain turned Kinshasa’s streets into rivers and slowed voting. The sprawling capital is a Bemba stronghold, and a low turnout could hurt his chances of overtaking Kabila, who won 45% in the first round.
Isidor Kaombe waited impatiently at a Kinshasa poll station that opened late because of the rain. ”We need this vote to put an end to the mess. With God’s help we will,” he said.
One thousand six hundred kilometres away in eastern DRC, where polls opened an hour earlier because of a time difference, voters queued patiently in the Ituri district, ravaged by war.
Jules Katasko (34) could not hold back a smile as he walked away after pushing his paper into the bright orange ballot box in the town of Bunia:
”For most of my life we had Mobutu Sese Seko, a dictator. He said ‘Yes’, we all had to do it; he said ‘No’, we all had to stop it. Now it’s us who decide whether it’s ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.”
About 25-million Congolese are registered to vote. The election, the country’s first democratic poll in 40 years, is accompanied by provincial elections. Results are not expected for up to three weeks.
Peace process
The election is the final step in a peace process after five years of the bloodiest conflict since World War II.
More than four million people died in the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the war, which ended in 2003, and 1,200 still perish every day. Thousands of gunmen roam the country.
Another voter in Bunia, 44-year-old Rachael Orocha, told Reuters: ”This isn’t a happy day for me. ”Two of my children died of hunger, militiamen destroyed my home — I’ve lost everything because of this war. I’m voting because we are sick of it. Something big has to change.”
As she spoke, UN peacekeepers patrolled the streets in armoured personnel carriers while a helicopter watched overhead.
At a polling station in a Kinshasa school, an elderly man, Jean Ntando, was voting with his wife. ”I haven’t voted since independence, so even if it is raining I had to come,” he said, hitching up his trousers as he walked back into the flood.
Many of the country’s 60-million people hope the election will end their suffering and enable the country to fulfil its rich potential.
But there are widespread fears it will spark more bloodshed.
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. More than 30 people died.
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 the assassinated president Laurent Kabila, who overthrew the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, perpetrator of 32 years of kleptocratic rule. – Reuters