Civil war fears on the Congo

• The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is Africa's second largest country and covers an area equal to about 70 per cent of India's, is on the edge of another civil war.
  
• Etienne Tshisekedi of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the defeated candidate in the presidential election, refuses to accept the result announced by the country's independent electoral commission. It has awarded victory to the incumbent Joseph Kabila, of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), by 49 per cent to 32 per cent.
  
• The election, only the second democratic one in the country's history, was dogged by problems and lasted three days instead of one. The transport infrastructure is very poor, and bad weather also prevented United Nations aircraft from carrying ballot papers to remote regions. After the polls closed, the count was delayed by staff shortages; in addition, bags of ballot papers were often so overfilled that they split in transit.
  
• European Union and some international observers have also expressed doubts about the credibility of the poll process. The 30 million voters are also electing a 500-seat parliament, with more than 18,000 candidates standing in a multi-member plurality electoral system.