Congolese vote to end decade of war and suffering

KINSHASA, Oct 29 (Reuters) Congo votes today in an historic presidential election intended to end decades of war, pillage and kleptocracy that have left the huge country devastated and poor despite vast mineral riches.

About 25 million people are registered to vote in a presidential run-off between incumbent Joseph Kabila and former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, the top two candidates in the first round held on July 30.

Kabila received 45 per cent of the votes in the first round vote and is expected to win the election.

The vote, the first democratic poll in Democratic Republic of Congo for 40 years, will be accompanied by provincial elections but results are not expected for three weeks.

The poll is meant to be the final step in a peace process after a 1998-2003 war, the bloodiest conflict since World War Two.

More than 4 million people died in a humanitarian catastrophe unleashed by the war and 1,200 people still die every day mostly from hunger and disease.

The 60 million Congolese population is desperate for peace and has high hopes that the election will end their suffering and enable the country to finally fulfil its rich potential.

''The elections are going to change everything,'' said 25-year-old former teacher Gerard Avedo-Kazi, who fled to the Gety refugee camp in the northeastern district of Ituri after militiamen slit his aunt's throat in a rampage through his remote village.

''We are traumatised by this war. People are yearning to vote because that means the fighting will stop,'' he said.

Thousands of gunmen still roam Congo and tension is high in Kinshasa.

FEARS OF BLOODSHED There are widespread fears the election will spark more bloodshed instead of ushering in a new era of peace and reconstruction.

Supporters of Kabila and Bemba have clashed several times since the first round and in August their private armies fought three days of battles in the capital in which more than 30 people were killed.

They have brought in more arms and reinforcements since then. Bemba is believed to have 600 fighters in the chaotic capital, where Kabila is widely detested, and the president has 5,000 members of his personal guard in the city.

In a pre-election interview, Kabila warned that he would crack down on any provocation during the vote, a thinly veiled warning to Bemba.

Describing the state of the country as precarious, Kabila said: ''The situation is grave...there will be a response to any provocation, all measures have been prepared.'' Kabila is the son of assassinated President Laurent Kabila, who overthrew former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

The latter's 32-year kleptocratic rule looted the country of many of its rich resources.

Despite the high hopes from the poll, many Congolese believe it has left them with only a bad choice between two men too compromised by their past to put the former Belgian colony finally on the road to recovery.

Local media have described it as a choice between ''cholera and plague''.

''I don't expect much from these people,'' said Dr Mbwebwe Kabamba, head of surgery at Kinshasa's general hospital. ''There will be a lot of disappointed people,'' he said.

Reuters DKS VP0530