Congolese vote to end years of war

A Congolese woman gives a thumb up while waiting in line to cast her vote in the central district of Victoire yesterday in Kinshasa, DR Congo. PHOTO: AFP

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 UN 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 spectre of violence and a rejection of the results.