After
Decades of War, Millions of Congolese Seize Chance to Vote
By Steve Bloomfield
The Independent UK Monday 31 July 2006
"So many people have died," cried Kabira Masiki,
throwing her hands up in the air. "So many people. We have no
peace." Mrs Masiki, 55, had been waiting in line outside the
school house being used as a polling station in Rutshuru, a
small town 70km north-east of Goma, for four hours and was
prepared to stand there in the dusty, oppressive heat all day
if necessary.
She had never been able to cast a vote in free and fair
elections, but yesterday her opportunity arrived along with
more than 25 million people in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) who finally got a chance to choose their leaders
for the first time in 40 years.
They came in their thousands, to more than 53,000
polling stations dotted across a country the size of western
Europe. Mothers with babies strapped to their backs, old men
shoeless. Young and old, male and female, they came to do
something hardly any of them had done before - put a cross on
a ballot paper.
Turnout was predicted to be between 80 and 90 per cent,
a proud vote for democracy and a defiant snub to the militia
groups that had threatened to disrupt the poll. People leaving
the polling stations triumphantly waved their ink-stained
thumbs - the sign that they had cast their ballot.
International observers and the
UN forces, known as MONUC, predicted that voting would
continue long into the night. In many districts, the sheer
number of parliamentary candidates left voters with ballot
papers the size of six pieces of A3 paper. Illiteracy and
inexperience meant long delays were expected.
But, by late afternoon, many polling stations in and
around Goma, the capital of the North Kivu district that
borders Uganda and Rwanda, had finished voting. Some continued
for two hours after the polls officially closed at 5pm.
Since gaining independence in 1960 following 75 years
of brutal Belgian rule, the DRC has lurched from one disaster
to another. The kleptocratic reign of the US-backed dictator,
Mobutu Sese Seko, was ended in 1997 when a rebellion in the
east, led by Laurent Kabila and backed by Rwanda and Uganda,
drove the ailing Mobutu from power. Kabila swiftly fell out
with his former allies and four million Congolese people have
died in the regional and civil wars that have raged in the DRC
ever since. It is estimated that 1,200 people are still dying
here each day from war-related diseases.
Against this backdrop, Congo's voters have invested a
huge amount of hope and expectation in the introduction of
multi-party democracy. In Rutshuru, where seven people were
killed during an election rally earlier this month, Lumboga
Pierre, a father of 10, showed off his voting card as he
waited in line. "With this, I can vote," he said. "With a
president we will get peace and happiness. Surely there will
be peace and the looting and the killing will end." Mr Pierre,
who used to work as a tax inspector before the war, said he
had voted once before, in elections organised by Mobutu. "It
was obligatory to vote for Mobutu," said Mr Pierre. "This is
different. This is free and I am very happy." The Catholic
Church, a powerful voice in the DRC, had threatened to boycott
the elections, claiming fears of widespread vote-rigging. But
within days of the poll they publicly backed the vote.
Not that it would have made much difference. Most
Congolese have been waiting for these elections their entire
life. It has been impossible to find anyone here who did not
plan to vote.
By 11am, five hours after poll opened, there were still
long queues in the village of Buganza, 11km from the Ugandan
border. Bahati Kalekezi, a 22-year-old in a fake Arsenal
football shirt, had walked one hour the night before and
stayed in the village overnight to ensure he was in line at
6am.
"I will wait until I cast my vote," he said. "I must so
that we get a president who can build the country and bring
peace. There will be change, we need more schools." UN forces,
alongside the Congolese army, were patrolling polling stations
in all major towns as well as those areas where militia forces
have been active. But even in villages like Buganza there had
been no problems.
With 33 presidential candidates it is unlikely that
Joseph Kabila, who became president in 2001 after the
assassination of his father, will manage to get more than 50
per cent of the vote.
Mrs Masiki will wait in line again outside the school
house in Rutshuru. Her nine children have known nothing but
dictatorship and war, but she is convinced it will change.
"After voting we will have peace and the war will end," she
said. "The dream is happiness and peace. It will come."
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