By HEIDI VOGT
Associated Press Writer
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - Rioters destroyed polling stations in eastern Congo on Monday and a revote was planned in one northern town after ballots were burned, yet much of this Central African country called the landmark presidential runoff a success as the colossal task of counting the election results began.
Sunday's tense balloting pitted President Joseph Kabila against former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba in voting that many hoped would usher the country into democracy after more than 40 years of dictatorship and war.
But fears also were raised that it would ignite a return to war, four years after a 1998-2002 conflict that pulled in armies from more than a half-dozen African nations.
Mobs in the northeastern border town of Fataki destroyed 43 polling stations and the ballots stored inside after a soldier killed two electoral workers. U.N. spokesman Leocadio Salmeron said it was unclear what prompted the army sergeant to shoot, but said he appeared to be drunk. The soldier was arrested by police.
Elsewhere, polling stations posted tallies and election workers prepared to go home after spending two nights at their posts. In Kinshasa, where problems collecting and counting millions of ballots in the first round left the final tally open to criticism, the U.N. commandeered trucks and cars from its various agencies to pick up votes and bring them to one of 14 collection centers.
Both Kabila and Bemba have pledged to accept the results - an important pact given that fighting between their personal security forces in August as first-round results were released killed at least 23 people.
Allegations of fraud or irregular voting can quickly spark unrest in Congo.
One person died Sunday when protesters who suspected ballot tampering ransacked a dozen polling stations and clashed with security forces in the northwest town of Bumba. The looted polling places were to reopen Tuesday to give voters another chance.
Meanwhile, a rights group said blockades set up by money-extorting soldiers prevented thousands from voting in the east.
Many Congolese said they chose the candidate they trusted to keep the peace.
International observers sounded optimistic, saying the violence in Fataki and Bumba was not the norm.
``There does not appear to be a trend of either intimidation or violence. One could almost say the opposite,'' said Joe Clark, former Canadian prime minister and head of the Atlanta-based Carter Center's observing team.
Vote counting began late Sunday, with electoral workers tallying ballots by battery-powered lanterns and candlelight. Some stations posted local results as early as 11 p.m., but overall results were not expected for several days.
The electoral commission has said it will issue provisional results by Nov. 19.
``The country has been destroyed by the dictatorship and war,'' said Xavier Kekeli, a 44-year-old French teacher working a polling station in Kinshasa that stayed open late to accommodate those kept away by morning rains. ``Everything now comes from the foreigners - even the candles. ... Now it's time for the Congolese to take on our own destiny.''
In the forested countryside of sprawling Congo, lack of roads meant ballot collection will likely be slow.
``In some places, there's no way to get there but by helicopter,'' electoral commission spokesman Desire Molekela said.
The postwar transition has been secured by the largest U.N. mission in the world, a 17,600-member force backed up for the vote by 2,500 European Union troops in Congo and Gabon.
Congolese are eager to see their country take its place among the continent's modern democracies. Until a constitutional referendum last year, most of its 58 million people had never voted. About 70 percent of 25 million registered voters turned out in the first round.
Kabila, credited by many here with launching the postwar transition, captured 45 percent of the first-round vote and was favored to win the five-year term. Kabila has kept a low profile as interim president and rarely made public appearances. But the 35-year-old who took power at the age of 29 has convinced foreign governments that he is capable of governing.
Bemba, who won 20 percent in the first round, ruled a large chunk of northeastern Congo with support from neighboring Uganda during the war. Bemba, 44, won praise for accepting the power-sharing agreement that ended the fighting and made him a vice president. At the same time, the Central African Republic has charged Bemba with war crimes for alleged involvement in a rebellion there. The case is before the International Criminal Court.
Rich in cobalt, diamonds, copper, gold and other minerals, Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960 and was ruled for 32 years by Mobutu Sese Seko, a dictator who plundered the wealth, pocketing billions and doing little to develop the giant nation. Kabila's father, Laurent, helped depose Mobutu, but was then assassinated, leaving his son in power.
The new president will have to establish a unified army and regain control over lawless borderlands in the east, thousands of miles from Kinshasa, where rebels and militiamen accused of raping and pillaging residents collect their own taxes.
``Voting, it's also a risk we take,'' said Evelyne Kayombo, 30, a doctor in Kinshasa. ``In the campaign they promised us rainbows, but we don't know if they'll do what they say.''
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Associated Press writer Anjan Sundaram in Goma contributed to this report.
