KINSHASA – Tension was high in the Democratic Republic of Congo ahead of the country going to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections this morning.
Police blocked President Joseph Kabila’s main rival at an airport in Kinshasa on Saturday to stop him staging an election rally after at least two died in violence across the capital city.
Rival factions hurled rocks at each other and gunfire was heard across the city. A UN source reported a death and a journalist reported another death close to the airport. The violence was the latest sign of tension in the run-up to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second election since the war that ran from 1998 to 2003.
The poll has been marked by opposition allegations of irregularities and concerns about inadequate preparations.
Police stopped opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and his entourage from leaving Kinshasa’s N’djili airport after his party said it would defy a ban on political rallies imposed earlier on Saturday.
“I’ll call the population of Kinshasa to come here,” said Mr Tshisekedi (78), surrounded by police at the exit gate of the airport.
“We are already dying in our thousands, we are not going to let a few injuries stop us fighting now,” he said, a reference to his accusations that Mr Kabila’s government has saddled the population with insecurity and poverty.
After hours of failed negotiations by the UN peacekeeping mission, police moved in on Mr Tshisekedi’s entourage. Mr Tshisekedi was later escorted to his home by the police, according to a UN source. Mr Kabila, Mr Tshisekedi and the other main challenger, Vital Kamerhe, had been due to hold rallies within several hundred metres of each other in central Kinshasa on Saturday. Mr Kamerhe said four people had been killed, including one of his supporters, but that toll was not confirmed.
Under constitutional amendments signed off by Mr Kabila this year, the presidential vote will be decided in a single round, meaning the winner can claim victory with a simple majority. Analysts believe that favours Mr Kabila against the split opposition.
Some observers doubt all the ballot slips will reach the 60,000 voting stations by today in a country two-thirds the size of the European Union. However, national election commission president Daniel Ngoy Mulunda said he did not expect any delay to the polls, saying that materials were 90 per cent deployed.