DRC on a knife edge as vote result looms

THERE is an uneasy quiet in Kinshasa as the city braces for impending bloodshed. Results of the Democratic Republic of Congo's second democratic elections, which took place this week, are due to be announced on Tuesday - an announcement likely to spark chaos.

Late yesterday afternoon, presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi called a press conference at his residence in Limité, Kinshasa, where he slammed Independent National Electoral Commission president Daniel Ngoy Mulunda, and rejected the preliminary results.

He warned Mulunda that "he will be held responsible for what happens in this country". He told his supporters to be "vigilant" and urged them to "wait until I give the word" before taking action.

Preliminary results released late Friday put incumbent Joseph Kabila ahead of Tshisekedi.

With 33% of the vote counted from the country's 63000 polling stations and released by the election commission, Kabila has 50% of the vote compared to Tshisekedi's 34%. However, votes from Kinshasa, which is Tshisekedi's stronghold, have yet to be counted.

The week saw many Congolese leave the country as panic and fear set in. One woman, who asked not to be named, took her daughter out of the American International School, an expensive private school also attended by Kabila's children.

The woman said: "Kabila has taken his children out ... no one is at school ... if they see that Kabila's children are not there, it means there is going to be trouble." She has left for neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville. Others have left for Europe and Canada.

Richard Boorman, a spokesman for SA company Vodacom, dismissed rumours that the company had evacuated staff from the DRC. "Some staff have gone home for the holidays, maybe that's where the confusion comes from."

A spokesman for South Africa's Minister of Correctional Services, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who is leading an observer mission in the DRC, said yesterday safety was not a concern at this stage.

The elections went ahead this week despite many concerns over the readiness of the electoral commission.

Voting began on Monday, two days after deadly violence in Kinshasa left at least four people dead and many others injured.

According to Human Rights Watch, as many as 18 people were killed, the majority shot by Kabila's presidential guard. The voting ended three days later amid reports of fraud, disorganisation and isolated incidents of violence.

Four presidential candidates have called for the elections to be annulled, but the favourites, Kabila and 78-year-old Tshise-kedi, have not.

There was controversy surrounding three SA planes containing "millions" of ballot papers which allegedly landed in Kinshasa after voting had officially ceased.

According to opposition parties the unused ballots were to be used to swing the vote in favour of Kabila. The Sunday Times could not independently confirm this.

Despite the allegations of rigging, African observer missions, including those from the Southern African Development Community and the African Union, released a joint statement in which they welcomed "the successful holding of the elections".

A preliminary European Union observer mission report was far less flattering and noted "numerous irregularities, sometimes serious".

Vote organisers released a selection of results early to counter a flood of false figures currently circulating in text messages and on web pages that have stoked tensions.

Hackers managed to publish fake results on the election commission's official website that appeared to give Tshisekedi a strong lead. "We've been hacked," said commission spokesman Matthieu Mpita.

There are fears of an impending storm of violence once the election results are announced.

Tshisekedi supporters outside his party's office said they would "fight until the death" should their man not be the new president.

How Kabila will react if he loses is not clear. Kabila is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and holds the rank of major-general.

There is a strong police presence on the streets. - Additional reporting by Sunday Times staff and Reuters