HOUSE No 31c in the sprawling Kinshasa suburb of Malendi is testimony to the wretched past of the Democratic Republic of Congo — run-down and dilapidated with a leaking roof, damp stone floors and a stinking open sewer outside.

Inside, however, it offers a rare glimpse into Congo’s more sinister present. From a splintered wooden door, a trail of dark bloodstains leads across the floor, ending at the foot of a small wooden bed.

There, Bapuwa Mwamba, a veteran journalist, was killed last week with three bullets to the head. Near by, the drawers of a simple wooden desk have been smashed open — a laptop computer and notebooks are missing.

“They took his phone and some money. They kept asking him for his computer password. Then they executed him . . . I ran to the police but they refused to come saying they don’t have guns. That’s Congo for you,” shrugged Tresor Moke, Mr Mwamba’s landlord.

The three “thieves” who burst into the house at 2am were not in uniform but everyone believes that they were linked to the authorities. No arrests have been made. No investigation appears to be under way.

Mr Mwamba, who spent many years in exile in France during the 35-year rule of Mobutu Sese Seko, the former dictator of Congo, had written an article saying that the country’s transition to democracy was going badly and called for elections this Sunday to be cancelled.

Those elections are being widely hailed as the first free, multiparty elections in the history of this vast, impoverished country. But as the vote nears the claims of foul play proliferate and the question is increasingly being asked of the President, Joseph Kabila: is he a democrat or an emerging dictator? Two other journalists have been killed in similar circumstances in recent months. Human rights organisations, even priests, are frequently harassed.

Rivals accuse the 35-year-old President of dirty tricks. And as the outcome of the vote looks increasingly uncertain, so the authoritarian nature of the Government becomes more evident, prompting the powerful Catholic Church to add its voice on Sunday to the growing clamour for the elections to be delayed.

Until recently Mr Kabila, who became the world’s youngest head of state after the assassination of his father, Laurent, in 2001, was expected to stroll to an easy victory. In 2003 he helped to negotiate a settlement that ended five years of war and has presided over a fragile peace ever since.

But the Kabila entourage has been taken aback by the surprisingly effective campaigns of his main opponents — Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former warlord and VicePresident, who has invested £20 million of his own money in his challenge, and Oscar Kashala, a Harvard professor who returned from exile only a few months ago.

In response the President has taken off the gloves. He dominates state television and radio. His opponents face more and more obstacles. Rumours abound of electoral registration malpractices, mysterious extra ballot papers and bribes.

“He is a dictator on the way. He is surrounded by people who are determined to win at all costs. They are arranging everything to win,” Mbwebwe Kabamba, an independent political commentator, said.

Dr Kashala worried the Government this month by becoming the first person to fill the 20th of May Stadium in Kinshasa since Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman in the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle”.

The authorities then grounded Dr Kashala’s chartered aircraft on safety grounds. When he found an alternative, he suddenly discovered a nationwide shortage of aviation fuel. His campaign T-shirts and caps were impounded.

“They see me as a threat and do not want me to campaign. You cannot win this election without getting out to the provinces,” Dr Kashala told The Times.

There are less than 300 miles of paved roads outside the main cities of Congo, a country the size of Western Europe.

Political analysts say that Mr Kabila must win the election at the first round, but with 32 candidates it would be almost impossible to secure the 50 per cent required without cheating.

“If he tries to take it on the first round there could be an explosion. If it goes to a second round the anti-Kabila votes will all go to whoever that is and he could well lose,” one diplomat said. “Will his people accept that?” The second round will not be held until October, raising the prospect of several more months of uncertainty and the danger that disgruntled losers will return to war.

The 1998-2003 fighting in Congo drew in six neighbouring states and killed about four million people, making it the world’s worst conflict since the Second World War.

The United Nations has 17,500 peacekeepers, backed up by 1,200 European troops, in the country to prevent a slide back to conflict, but not for the first time in Congo’s history it could find itself caught in the middle. Mr Bemba has threatened to set the “country ablaze” if there is any fraud.

Menace already hangs in the fetid, tropical air. In some areas police have had to chase stone-throwing demonstrators away from the President’s campaign convoy.

On Tuesday a march of several thousand opposition supporters calling for an election boycott and burning Kabila campaign posters quickly turned violent.

The elite presidential guard, packed with “Angolan” advisers, fired shots into the air while riot police swung truncheons and fired teargas.

“It is your fault. Kabila is the foreigners’ choice,” an angry youth shouted at The Times, as he menacingly drew his finger across his throat.

A REBEL'S YOUNG SON DISCOVERS POWER

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