THE women of this village, nearly all of them widowed through Congo’s wars, are once again frightened.

On Sunday most of them will leave their sprawling collection of plastic-sheeted huts and walk for 20 minutes to a dilapidated school to vote in a presidential run-off in the country’s first free elections in more than 40 years.

But the rejoicing, singing and dancing which accompanied the first round of the UN-backed poll on July 30 — the first time most Congolese had voted — has long gone, replaced by fear and nervousness that the vote could plunge the huge, impoverished country back into conflict.

“When the elephants fight, the grass gets trampled . . . We are very worried now, the indications are not good,” said Bombale, 56, a mother of seven. “They must accept the outcome, but neither will. Here, we don’t care who it is — we just don’t want another blood bath.”

The elephants in question are President Kabila, at 35, the world’s youngest head of state, and his sworn enemy, Jean-Pierre Bemba, a 43-year-old rebel leader and businessman backed by Uganda, who is accused of five times more human rights abuses than he has policies in his manifesto.

The women’s fears appeared to be borne out yesterday when fighting broke out in the northern town of Gbadolite, birthplace of Mobutu Sese Seko, the former dictator. Reports said that soldiers loyal to Mr Bemba had seized François Joseph Mobutu Nzanga, the former President’s son, who had been campaigning for Mr Kabila.

Since the first round, the candidates have rarely left their respective compounds for fear of violence. Such is the tension in Kinshasa, the capital, that a televised debate between them was inexplicably cancelled, a final Bemba rally was called off and the whereabouts of the President were unknown last night. Bombale and 131 other widows fled to this poor village on the banks of Congo River, about 50 miles (80km) northeast of Kinshasa, to escape reprisals from government and rebel soldiers during a brutal civil war from 1998 to 2003.

That war, dubbed Africa’s World War, dragged in six neighbouring states and killed four million people, making it the bloodiest conflict since the Second World War. Today, an estimated 1,200 people die every day through hunger, violence and disease in a country larger than Western Europe and awash with untapped reserves of copper, cobalt, diamonds, gold, nickel, and coltan — a metal used in mobile phones.

The first round, in which there were 33 candidates for President and 10,000 for 500 parliamentary seats, split the country on cultural, linguistic and geographic lines. Both men have since wooed and signed deals with other candidates, but no one knows if they can deliver their first-round votes. The outcome is too close to call.

The women of Kimpoko, who eke out an existence growing cassava and maize, and fishing, blame the election for divisions between the French and Lingala-speaking West, which is largely Bemba territory, and the Swahili-speaking East of the country, which credits Mr Kabila for ending the war.

Policed by 17,500 blue berets — the UN’s largest and most expensive peacekeeping mission — the election was intended to underpin a fragile peace process, but instead it has brought tensions to the surface. Western states have spent £240 million to give even the most remote villagers a chance to vote. Now, some are questioning if the money would not have been better spent providing basic services.

“Before everyone was happy because we thought we were voting for peace . . . Now the atmosphere has changed . . . We want the authorities to take action to protect us,” said Aimee Kabula, one of the women’s leaders.

Human rights organisations and political analysts had cautioned that holding an election in a country devoid of democratic institutions, an independent judiciary or a police force was risky. Congo has less than 300 miles of paved roads outside its main cities. Most villages have no clinics, power or schools, after the country was effectively bled dry by Mobutu, who was overthrown in 1997.

“The international community rushed this because it wants to be shot of the whole problem,” a Western diplomat said. “There was never any indication the leading figures would play by the rules. We were naive.” Intimidation by rival groups of supporters is widespread. In the slums of Kinshasa, a Bemba stronghold, anti-foreigner feeling is running high. Westerners are seen as orchestrating a Kabila victory, a suspicion enhanced by the arrival of a 1,200-strong EU force to support the UN.

Violence has led to the deaths of several dozen people. In the first round, Mr Kabila took nearly 45 per cent of the vote, and Mr Bemba about 20 per cent. Angry that he did not win the necessary 50 per cent to avoid a run-off, hardliners ordered the Presidential Guard to attack Mr Bemba’s residence. They destroyed his helicopter and killed at least 23 people before the UN force separated the combatants. Pamphile Sebahara, of the Research and Information Group on Peace and Stability, said:

“A failure in the democratic process will have considerable consequences, not just for the Congolese people, but also on regional stability and the credibility of UN peacekeeping missions.”

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

POTENTIAL

Five national parks; wildlife includes mountain gorillas and white rhino

REALITY

Much mineral wealth is smuggled out of the country

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• The Japanese Prime Minister is doomed: or is he?
• Brighton company 'involved in cyber attack'
• The art of survival: it’s all in the mind