World urges DRC election peace
2006-07-29 21:45
Kinshasa - World leaders have urged the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo to shun violence and embrace democracy by voting peacefully in the country's first free multi-party elections in 40 years this weekend.
The international community has thrown its weight behind Sunday's polls, stumping up the $460m needed to hold them and deploying the largest United Nations peacekeeping operation on the planet.
The presidential and parliamentary elections are the culmination of a peace process that followed a devastating 1998-2003 war.
Both the Congolese and their foreign backers hope the vote can give the nation a fresh start.
Despite the three-year-old peace, rebel and militia groups have continued to kill and loot in the east and more than 1 200 Congolese die every day from violence, hunger and disease.
On the eve of the landmark elections on Saturday, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, President Thabo Mbeki and the United States government joined in calling for a peaceful vote.
"Violence must be avoided," said Annan in comments broadcast by UN radio in the DRC.
Fears of violence increase
"I ask political leaders to accept the results ... In elections ... there are winners and losers. There are rules of the game and I ask the Congolese to accept them," he said.
Fears that violence could disrupt the polls have increased over the last week.
Political street protests, by supporters of candidates and critics of the elections, have shaken the capital Kinshasa. At least six people have been killed.
President Joseph Kabila, who took over the presidency after his father Laurent was assassinated in 2001, is widely viewed as the favourite to win the elections in a field of 32 contenders.
His challengers include former rebel leaders who once fought against him.
If no one candidate gains more than 50% of the vote in Sunday's first round, a deciding second round between the two frontrunners will be held at the end of October.
Elections a "decisive moment"
International leaders view the polls as a key test of democracy in Africa. They portray the DRC as a lynchpin of regional stability.
Mbeki has played an important role in helping to steer the DRC towards elections.
He described the vote as "a decisive moment in the modern history of the DRC and Africa" and "a major step on the road to reconciliation, reconstruction and development".
The US, which contributes $270m to the $1.1bn annual UN peacekeeping bill for the DRC, said it would also closely follow Sunday's elections.
"We expect the elections to be fair, free and transparent. That's what we've all worked for," said US assistant secretary for African affairs Jendayi Frazer.
"The people of Congo have a real opportunity tomorrow to set their own course."
More than 1 200 international monitors will be observing the elections.