Last Monday 28 November the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo voted
in the second general election since the ravages of the 1998-2003 war that
eventually caused over 5 million deaths. The conflict, fuelled by a complex
mesh of ethnic rivalries, political disputes, and vested interests in
Congo's vast mineral wealth, persists to this day in the east of the huge
country, particularly in the Kivu provinces. The first elections, in 2006,
were characterised by violence as the armed forces and supporters of rival
political groups and presidential candidates clashed in the capital,
Kinshasa, and in a number of other provinces.