CONGO: Congo has endured universal suffering for decades, but tomorrow it will savour its moment of universal suffrage, writes Félim McMahon
Tomorrow, 25 million people in one of the world's most downtrodden countries will be united in their freedom to cast a vote.
Despite its fears and reservations, the Congolese electorate is expected to go in large numbers to the polls by foot, pirogue canoe, bicycle, car and truck.
Some of those voters are probably hacking their way through the jungle at this very moment, to get to one of the 50,000 polling stations that have been set up for tomorrow's vote.
In a country two-thirds the size of Europe, with only 400km of paved roads, the fact that the elections are taking place at all is the result of a massive collective and international effort.
The presidential elections are offering Congolese their choice of 33 presidential candidates, in a country that underwent 32 years of dictatorship under the Cold War strongman Marshal Mobutu.
More than 9,000 would-be parliamentarians, meanwhile, are vying for a place in a 500-seat legislative assembly.
This will be the freest and most representative assembly that Congo has known in more than 40 years. In a country that has known universal suffering, it would be mean-spirited not to acknowledge the power and majesty of this moment of universal suffrage.
Kinshasa last night was in buoyant form after two days of rallying by the front-runners in the presidential race - outgoing president Joseph Kabila and millionaire businessman-turned-warlord Jean Pierre Bemba, one of the transitional government's four vice-presidents.
Kabila's rally passed off peacefully yesterday, while Thursday's rally also ended calmly, albeit after an afternoon of unrest, arson and a tense stand-off between between the national police, militia loyal to Bemba and a group of Angolan-trained "anti-terror" troops loyal to the president.
Yesterday, the national police were being congratulated roundly after bravely holding the line, despite the mystery that often envelopes their tiny salaries.
Tomorrow will be a "day of reflection" in Congo, with no political campaigning or demonstrations authorised, after a frantic month of campaigning.
One wonders what people will reflect on. Will they think about the great promise of independence in 1960, which degenerated into a civil war; or about the massive UN intervention that followed, which left them in the hands of a dictatorship by 1965?
Will they think about the Rwandan invasion, backed by Uganda, which brought their current president's father, Laurent Kabila, to power in 1997?
Or will they think of the five-year war that followed, which involved the armies of six nations and saw the partition and plunder of this potentially rich country, as four million Congolese died of starvation and disease.
The international community has funded these elections to the tune of $500 million (€390 million), and they are taking place against the background of the sometimes aggressive operations of the largest UN force in the world.
Shelving its reservations at the last minute, the Catholic Church here, which can lay claim to 70 per cent of the population, has given the elections its blessing.
Everything has been done to ensure that the vote itself is free, transparent and fair - including the deployment of some 1,300 international and up to 500,000 local observers.
What can be done, however, to ensure that the future government is equally transparent and fair? The record of the transitional government is poor.
According to the latest report of the International Crisis Group on promoting good government: "Senior positions in the administration and state-run enterprises were shared between [ the former belligerents], and state resources were siphoned off to fund election campaigns and private accounts.
"Between 60 and 80 per cent of customs revenues are estimated to be embezzled, a quarter of the national budget is not properly accounted for, and millions of dollars are misappropriated in the army and state-run companies."
Many here feel that the international community owes it to the Congolese to help them create a just state. A fair vote, after all, does not guarantee fair government.
UN secretary general Kofi Annan's special representative in Congo, Ross Mountain, said yesterday the UN was seeking to ensure "support for the process of ensuring that parliamentarians can exercise their full rights as watchdogs", including that of the World Bank.
UN sources, meanwhile, have indicated that Joseph Kabila's presidency has been less and less inclined to engage with them in that respect.
In the silence of the polling booth tomorrow, the Congolese people are being asked to take a massive step into the unknown.
Of course anything would be better than what has gone before.
A bodyguard of vice-president Azarias Ruberwa, from the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy, was shot dead en route from the airport to Kinshasa city centre.
It is understood the incident involved both Mr Ruberwa's security guards and guards loyal to president Joseph Kabila.