Congo's Hope

Another chance for elections to stabilize a failed state

IRAQ'S NATIONAL election at the beginning of this year is now regarded by some as yet another of the Bush administration's missteps. Though it attracted millions of voters and was judged to be largely fair, it failed to stabilize the country and may have accentuated the sectarian divisions fueling intractable bloodshed. We don't agree that elections are the wrong way to rebuild a failed state, but if the critics are right, the next country to watch is the Democratic Republic of Congo, which covers a territory the size of Western Europe in the center of Africa and has a population of 62 million.

Like Iraq, Congo suffered from decades of brutal dictatorship and is riven with ethnic

rivalries. For most of a decade it endured a multi-sided civil war that drew in the armies of half a dozen neighboring countries and caused millions of deaths. Though it lacks democratic institutions such as independent courts, and the central government has no real presence in much of the largely roadless country, it staged an elaborate, two-round election beginning July 30, with extensive help from the United Nations. On Thursday the process finally ended when the Independent Electoral Commission announced that Joseph Kabila, who has been president since 2001, won a hard-fought runoff to remain in office.

Long-suffering Congolese are waiting to see if the outcome will inaugurate a hoped-for era of stability that will allow the development of the country's abundant resources. So far, the outlook is cloudy. The loser of the presidential runoff, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has refused to accept the result. The Lingala-speaking western part of the country, including the capital of Kinshasa, largely supports him; Mr. Kabila's base is among the Swahili speakers of the east. Dangerously, Mr. Bemba commands his own militia; earlier this month and in August it fought street battles against government troops in the capital.

While the United States has managed the attempt at democracy in Iraq, Congo has been one of biggest multilateral projects in history. The United Nations' largest peacekeeping force, with 17,000 troops, has tried to keep rival groups and their militias apart, with the help of a rapid-reaction force from the European Union. Half a billion dollars was spent to organize and stage the election. The same weaknesses that plague Iraq arguably are present in Congo: too few troops and not enough training or aid to consolidate the new political order. The tragic difference may be that more of Congo's warriors are exhausted or dead -- giving its would-be democrats a little more hope.