By IPS Correspondents
KINSHASA, Aug 24 2006 (IPS)

An outbreak of hostilities in Kinshasa appeared to be drawing to an end, Wednesday, as United Nations officials and diplomats worked to restore calm to the Congolese capital in the run-up to a second round of presidential elections.

The violence began Sunday, which also saw the announcement of provisional results from an initial round of voting on Jul. 30 – when the first multi-party elections to take place in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for more than 40 years were held.

President Joseph Kabila, and Vice President and former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba emerged from a group of 33 candidates to take 44.81 percent and 20.03 percent of the vote, respectively. But as no candidate won more than 50 percent of ballots cast, a second round of polling must take place; this has been scheduled for Oct. 29.

Members of the presidential guard and troops protecting Bemba clashed on the streets of Kinshasa even before the outcome of the first round could be broadcast on national television – delaying the announcement.

The head of the Independent Electoral Commission, Apollinaire Malu Malu, was reportedly obliged to travel to the television station’s offices in an armoured vehicle provided by the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Mission des Nations Unies en République démocratique du Congo, MONUC) to provide news of the vote count.

The U.N. has deployed the world’s largest peace-keeping force in the DRC to secure the elections and disarm fighters who remain active in eastern Congo, following the end of the country’s most recent civil war (1998-2002).

By Monday evening, heavy weapons fire was taking place around Bemba’s residence, even as he was holding a meeting there with 14 ambassadors from member countries of the International Committee in Support of the Transition in the DRC.

On Tuesday morning gunfire resumed in Kinshasa, where the Kabila and Bemba camps blame each other for the violence.

Speaking of the clashes around Bemba’s residence, Monday, a soldier who supports the vice president told IPS that members of the presidential guard had fired at point blank range on one of Bemba’s guards. Emile Muswamba said this man had also been questioned Sunday, near ‘Congo Canal Télévision’ (Congo Channel Television) – a station owned by Bemba.

“The…man, attached to Bemba’s security, had left his post in search of a cigarette, and found himself face to face with a patrol of the presidential guard which tried to disarm him. He fired in…self-defence on one of the members of the presidential guard, killing him immediately,” Muswamba recounted, saying the situation worsened from that point onwards.

While the deal that ended the 1998-2002 conflict brought combatants into a transitional, power-sharing government, Bemba and other ex-rebel leaders have maintained forces for self-protection – and relations between these groups are strained.

Others have a different view of Monday’s events, pointing the finger at Bemba’s troops.

“They fired on the Palais de la Nation (Palace of the Nation), the building where the head of state works, and captured two…members of the (presidential) guard before withdrawing to the residence of Jean-Pierre Bemba. This explains why, for retaliation, the Republican Guard laid siege to the residence of Jean-Pierre Bemba Monday evening,” said journalist Lubunga bya Ombe.

No official death toll had been released by Wednesday, although certain reports put it at more than a dozen – others at about 30.

Both Kabila and Bemba have now agreed to confine their troops. Reports indicate that under a ceasefire, they will also allow parts of Kinshasa formerly under their control to be supervised by the national police. Representatives of Kabila and Bemba, MONUC, a European force in Congo to help maintain stability during elections, and members of the army will apparently verify that police are being allowed to establish control in these areas.

In addition, Bemba has been placed under the protection of MONUC, which has deployed a sizable contingent around his residence.

For their part, Congolese citizens say they are disappointed and discouraged by events of the past few days, especially after the relative calm of voting on Jul. 30.

The hope had been that last month’s poll would bring lasting peace to this vast Central African country, where decades of poor governance and conflict have resulted in widespread poverty and decay. Some four million people are said to have lost their lives in the 1998-2002 war.

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