Kinshasa, Congo – The United Nations called for an immediate cease-fire Tuesday by rival army supporters of Congo’s two presidential candidates, and three days of deadly fighting ebbed as the European Union sent reinforcements to the restive Central African nation.
At least 14 people have been reported killed in the clashes that began after officials announced President Joseph Kabila had failed to win an outright majority in Congo’s first balloting in more than four decades and would face former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba in a second round of voting.
Heavy gunfire rang out before dawn Tuesday and fighting raged for hours, then tapered off after the United Nations, with 17,500 peacekeepers in Congo, demanded a halt to hostilities.
“The situation is calm. So far, the cease-fire is being respected,” said Col. Thierry Fusalba, a spokesman of the European Union force.
Bemba, who was in the protection of the United Nations, was not available for comment.
The U.N. said all Congo army troops had been ordered back to their original positions and that the international troops would begin patrolling Kinshasa’s streets alongside Congo’s police Tuesday night.
Congo’s war-battered people denounced the fighting between the candidates’ supporters in the postwar military, saying they wanted democracy over more armed struggle.
“They need to give people the voice, that is why we had elections,” said Rousse Intonda, 28 and unemployed, standing in the mostly empty streets after the battle near Bemba’s house.
With 16.9 million votes cast July 30, Kabila won 45 percent, to 20 percent for Bemba, who is also a vice president in Kabila’s transitional administration. The remainder of the vote was shared by 31 other candidates.
The elections were meant to end years of unrest that began shortly after independence from Belgium in 1960. Congo’s last multiparty vote for a leader was in 1961. The winner was killed as military regimes took power.
