DRC elections cost UN $400m

2006-07-26 08:57

Kinshasa - The upcoming elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be the most expensive ever supported by the United Nations, costing the international community as much as $400m to give the country a new start after decades of plunder and civil war.

On Sunday July 30, more than 25 million registered voters were set to go to the polls to elect a president and parliamentary representatives. Incumbent President Joseph Kabila, 35, the youngest head of state in Africa, was considered the favourite.

Foreign troops, including 780 from Germany, were in the country to keep possible unrest at bay, but the Congolese were used to them.

The 17 000 soldiers of the UN Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monuc) had been around for a while, and had been put to good use, helping disarm militias and preparing for election day.

Massacres of civilians

Yet, Monuc didn't have the best reputation in the DRC. They were not able to prevent massacres of civilians in 2003 and they had been accused of sexually exploiting local women and girls.

But, what mattered to the Congolese were the elections, on which many were setting great hopes.

One Western diplomat said: "The expectations are about as great as shortly before independence. This can lead to bitter disappointments in a couple of months."

The role of the opposition was still uncertain. The current government was the result of protracted negotiations that ended the five-year civil war in 2002.

Humanitarian situation 'desperate'

Kabila had so far governed with four vice-presidents who represented the interests of the former warring parties.

In the mineral rich east of the country, numerous militias were still active and terrorised the civilian population, and critics of the government suggested that some in power in Kinshasa had an interest in keeping the conflict hot in order to use the chaos as a cover to do a lucrative business in raw materials in the region.

The country's humanitarian situation was desperate. According to aid organisations, about 1 200 people die daily due to the effects of the conflict, from hunger and disease.

Ross Mountain, emergency aid co-ordinator for the UN, said that every six months was equivalent to the death toll of the December 2004 Asia tsunami that killed more than 200 000 people.

Tens of thousands had left their villages for fear of the militias or marauding government troops. They could not work their fields and thus became dependent on food aid.

The UN agency World Food Programme had even set up an airlift during the rainy season in Katanga province to supply people with grain.

Sapa-dpa

- SAPA