Congo Campaigning Winds Down Ahead of Vote

KINSHASA, Congo -- President Joseph Kabila called on Congo's citizens Friday to shun violence during this weekend's historic elections, telling thousands of cheering supporters that their votes can bring peace to the Central African country. But unrest continued ahead of Sunday's vote, with a presidential candidate claiming one his armed guards died and another was injured when Kabila's security forces fired on them.

The election is Congo's first democratic presidential ballot after more than four decades of violence and unrest.

"We want to turn the page," Kabila told a crowd of about 5,000 in an old fairground on the last day of campaigning. "We want elections in calm, peace and discipline."

Kabila, 35, is the front-runner. He became president under a power-sharing deal when his father was assassinated five years ago.

"I ask you to vote for the candidate of the people," he said. "Vote for the consolidation of peace and for the advancement of our reconstruction."

Some 30 people died in politically related violence during a month of campaigning by 33 presidential and thousands of legislative candidates.

With such a crowded field, no presidential candidate is expected to get the necessary majority. A runoff between Sunday's top two winners would likely be held in October.

Candidates include ex-rebel fighters and former allies of longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. At stake is control of the purse strings in a country the size of Western Europe larded with troves of timber, gems and ores.

Azarias Ruberwa, a former rebel and now a presidential candidate, said Kabila's red-beret presidential guard fired on his bodyguards as Kabila's procession moved toward the parade ground. Kabila's representatives weren't immediately available for comment.

Most of the officials in the national-unity government, employ guards loyal to them alone.

Ruberwa has strong support for his presidential bid from a minority Tutsi community in Congo's east, but is otherwise unpopular and his fighters were accused of atrocities during the war. His party is considered a likely spoiler if it loses ground at the polls.

Congo tumbled into back-to-back civil wars starting in 1996 and ending in 2002 with peace deals that facilitated Kabila's current transitional administration.