Democracy at Last

On December 6, 2006 Joseph Kabila was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of the Republic of Congo in nearly 40 years, marking the beginning of a long walk to freedom for the people of this central African nation that has known nothing but war and ethnic strife for a better part of the last decade.

In a ceremony held in the capital Kinshasa and attended by many African heads of states and dignitaries, the 35-year-old Kabila declared that he would abide by “the trilogy of good governance, democracy and respect for human rights.”

Kabila took over power in 2001 following the assassination of his father, then leader, Laurent Kabila.

Bowing to international pressure Kabila allowed the democratic process that ultimately led to the heated elections and the run-off since neither candidate pulled the required percentile.

However, in the second round of voting, the incumbent Kabila prevailed over his challenger and equally popular rival, Jean Pierre Bemba by a slim margin of 58 per cent to 42 percent.

The election results come nearly two weeks after the end of the second round of presidential voting marred by deadly violence in the central African country formerly known as Zaire.

The election results show the clear division of the country along ethnic lines with nearly one half of the registered voters casting their ballots for the incumbent and the other half for Bemba.

All independent international observers quickly declared the elections free and fair however, supporters of the losing party rejected the results and vowed to pursue armed struggled.

More than four innocent civilians mostly women and children have been killed and several more million others displaced in the last five years courtesy to the conflict that pitted government forces supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe against rebel fighters backed by Uganda and Rwanda.

Lawlessness and violence has been the order of the day in most parts of the country since the ouster of Mobutu Seseseko who ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly three decades.