Violence breaks out in Kinshasa as the Congo's incumbent leader fails to win an overall majority in questionable presidential elections, writes Gamal Nkrumah The Congolese political and economic conundrum is worth thinking about seriously. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has long been given extra economic impetus by the extraordinary boom in primary commodity prices in the past decade. It has fabulous mineral wealth and tremendous agricultural potential. Sadly, in the stultifying equatorial heat of the low-lying western part of the country, the Congolese are anything but comatose, having endured three days of intense backstreet fighting in their politically tense capital, Kinshasa. Sadder still is that political inertia is robbing the Congolese people of a chance to improve their standard of living. The Congo has 30 per cent of the world's diamond reserves and 70 per cent of the world's coltan -- a rare mineral indispensable to the production of mobile phones. Congo also has huge reserves of bauxite, cobalt, copper, uranium and vanadium. However, a healthy democracy requires a robust and credible opposition as well as mineral riches. Rampant corruption starves the needy Congolese of vital humanitarian assistance. Another problem with the DRC is that the opposition is composed in the main of former armed militias that constantly threaten to take up arms when the going gets tough. This week, they are in no gentle political mood. And their threats promise a change in public perception of their political agenda. The Congolese economic boom now seems to be coming to an end because of a deepening political crisis following the announcement of a presidential run-off this week. Gun battles broke out in the streets of Kinshasa with scores killed. In the past, civil war and political tensions eroded much of the country's economic gains. The tragedy, however, is that the vast majority of the Congolese people are poor. Infant mortality is 125 per 1,000 births -- the African average being 100 per 1,000 births. Congo also has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection in Africa. Naturally, attention is most closely focussed on the election results. Turnout was an impressive 70 per cent. The result of the Congolese presidential elections was announced this week and much to the chagrin of the parties concerned there was no clear winner. Incumbent President Joseph Kabila managed to capture 45 per cent of the vote -- five per cent short of the 50 per cent needed to win an outright victory. He clearly does not have to tell his people his next election manifesto now. He is busy propping up his private militia in preparation for possible future civil war. Kabila is on the defensive. He can ill-afford just to sit back and congratulate himself on past achievements. His main problem is that he is not popular in his capital city -- a sprawling metropolis of seven million people. The Congolese are roughly divided into two main camps: Easterners who by and large speak Kiswahili as their lingua franca, and they by and large favour the incumbent Kabila, and Westerners who speak Lingala and who back Kabila's main rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo. The country teeters dangerously on the verge of violent disaster. In this context opposition forces are crying foul play. Jean-Pierre Bemba, Kabila's nearest rival, grabbed a rather unimpressive 20 per cent. All hell was let loose. His supporters took to the streets and Bemba threatened to resume armed struggle against the Kabila administration. A handful of Western diplomats were trapped in Bemba's home as the Congolese capital descended into chaos. Bemba, one of four Congolese vice- presidents in the outgoing transitional government of Kabila, heads the Movement for the Liberation of Congo. Bemba now sees red, Kabila faced with a savagely surly opposition. Western powers with special interests in the Congo -- the United States, France and Belgium -- applied pressure on disparate Congolese factions to pull themselves together. Kabila has to strike a careful balance if he is to retain what little credibility he has in the western part of the country. There are 17,000 United Nations peace-keepers in the DRC. An extra 400 European Union troops were deployed this week. It took Herculean efforts to achieve. But exactly what happens next and what the effect will be on the DRC is not clear. The risks are substantial. Kabila failed to dislodge his main presidential rivals from central and western Congo. The oldest presidential candidate, the octogenarian Antoine Gizenga, performed fairly well, taking 13 per cent of the vote, ranking third in the presidential race. Again, he scored mostly in the western part of the country. Another westerner, François Joseph Mobutu Nzanga Ngogangawe -- son of much-discredited dictator Mobutu Sese Seku -- came out with a mere five per cent. Part of the problem in the opposition was the splitting up of the vote in western Congo. Easterners, in sharp contrast, and rather conspicuously, solidly backed Kabila. In a surprise development, the incumbent president also secured the votes of the mineral-rich southern province of Katanga. Professor Oscar Kashala, an ethnic Luba (Congo's largest ethnic grouping), made a surprisingly disappointing showing. Kashala, a Harvard-educated pharmacist, managed no more than four per cent of the vote. Perhaps the Congolese were not quite convinced by the political newcomer who is regarded as being more American than Congolese.
