KINSHASA - Congolese began voting on Sunday in national elections designed to end years of war and chaos in the heart of Africa and that were protected by the world's biggest U.N. peacekeeping force.
From the crumbling riverside capital Kinshasa through to the thick jungles of the Congo river basin and the mist-shrouded peaks of the east, Democratic Republic of Congo was holding its first democratic polls in more than 40 years.
Polling stations opened first in the east of the vast former Belgian colony in central Africa because of a one-hour time difference with the west where Kinshasa is situated.
The normally sleepy eastern town of Bunia was bustling as about 300 voters lined up outside the main polling station, guarded by three white U.N. vehicles.
"I am very excited to be voting, but I can't tell you who for as that is my secret," Francois Xavier, 34, said.
Schools, churches and tents have been transformed into 50,000 polling stations for more than 25 million voters.
More than 17,000 United Nations peacekeepers -- backed by 1,000 European soldiers recently dispatched to the country -- have been deployed to try to ensure voting can take place across a country that is the size of Western Europe.
Those voting in Congo's lawless east did so amid fears of attack by rebels while complaints over irregularities and an opposition boycott have already raised the specter of violence and a rejection of the results.
The presidential and parliamentary polls are the culmination of a three-year peace process which ended Congo's last war -- a 1998-2003 conflict that sucked in six neighboring countries and killed 4 million people, mostly from hunger and disease.
Kabila's Call
Hours before polls opened, President Joseph Kabila -- who is standing in the elections and is viewed as favorite to win -- called on Congolese to vote in peace.
"I urge you not to give in to the demons of hate, blackmail and bargaining of any kind," he said in a televised address.
The country is blessed with enormous mineral wealth but has known little but war and dictatorship since independence in 1960.
After decades of the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko's rule, attempts at introducing democracy began in the early 1990s. But two wars during the last decade tore Congo apart.
Kabila heads a list of 32 people -- including former rebel leaders, relatives of previous presidents and a Harvard-trained doctor -- in the race for Congo's top job.
With more than 9,700 other candidates bidding for the 500 seats in parliament, many voters will face ballot papers as thick as phone books.
Officials scrambled late on Saturday to deliver voting material to the furthest corners of the huge nation, using planes, helicopters, canoes, porters and even donkeys.
World leaders urged the people of Congo to vote peacefully.
"The (African Union) congratulates the Congolese people for their patience, courage and faith in the future which they have shown during long periods of war and the three years of transition," the AU said in a statement.
The 53-nation group called on the Congolese to turn out in large numbers.
The run-up to the polls was marred by violence with riots erupting earlier this week in the capital and six people were killed during campaigning on Thursday.
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