RDC Dossier Spécial Elections :
La haine nationaliste se répand alors que le scrutin approche

REUTERS
Nationalist Anger Spills Over as Congo Polls Near

Published: June 14, 2006

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Tires were burning on Kinshasa's main boulevard, tear gas hung in the air and the whole angry mob was screaming at once.
But one voice eventually rose above the rest: "The Belgians and the rest of their European friends will have to watch out,'' shouted Jean Bosco Muaka.
"This place is no longer their colony and, if they aren't careful, we may have to burn a few of them,'' the lawyer and parliamentary candidate added as some fellow protestors ran their fingers across their necks in a menacing gesture.
Just weeks ahead of Democratic Republic of Congo's first free elections in 40 years, visiting U.N. Security Council delegates this week told politicians to tone down election rhetoric and avoid inflaming ethnic tensions.
But Monday's protests, called by opposition parties unhappy with preparations for the July 30 polls which are meant to draw a line under years of war and chaos, demonstrated mounting hostility to foreign involvement in Congo.
"There is a clear 'anti-international community' sentiment growing out there,'' a U.N. official told Reuters.
"They see us as having already decided who will be elected,'' said the official, who asked not to be named. "They are totally frustrated with the process and could start taking it out on soft targets, which is worrying.''
The international community spends $1 billion a year on a 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo.
Foreign investors who steered clear of Congo during years of war and dictatorship have signed multi-million dollar mining deals with President Joseph Kabila's fractious government.
But life for most in Kinshasa, home to some 8-9 million people on the Congo River's bank, remains miserable.
"You like Kabila and are setting up a dictatorship here,'' shouted a sweating protestor wearing a red bandana.
"But the Congolese people will resist. Congo is for the Congolese, not the foreigners,'' he added.

PARANOIA

Campaigning for Congo's elections has not officially begun, but the debating has -- and concerns emerged when candidates, including several presidential hopefuls, turned to questioning the nationalities of rivals rather than discussing policies.
"The speeches about 'Congolite' (Congolese-ness), which call for exclusion are dangerous. These elections should bring together and not divide'' said Jean Marc de la Sabliere, France's ambassador to the U.N. and head of the U.N. delegation.
Diplomats and analysts warn lessons should be learned from Ivory Coast and Rwanda, where divisions over ethnicity and nationality were fueled by hate media and led to violence.
Others, however, say while it is worrying it is unsurprising politicians are focusing on such issues ahead of elections.
"I'm not sure we will fall into the same paranoia as in Cote d'Ivoire,'' Celestin Kabuya, professor of sociology at the University of Kinshasa, told Reuters.
"But the main concern is how the communities of the east can live together,'' he added. "There have already been two wars that have erupted out of this.''
Militia violence in Congo's east kills 1,000 people a day, mostly from war-related hunger and disease, aid workers say. Some 4 million have died since the 1998-2003 began.