(24 Aug 2006)
1. Wide of Kinshasa street in the rain
2. Cars in the street
3. SOUNDBITE (French): Vox Pop, Kinshasa resident:
"To sum up the day, it has been quiet, business hasn't returned to the normal level, and people are scared because the events that have taken place, but everyone wishes for calm to return so that people can get back to their normal business"
4. SOUNDBITE (Lingala): Vox Pop, Kinshasa resident:
"As far as I'm concerned, today is good compared to yesterday"
5. Wide Kinshasa street in the rain
6. SOUNDBITE (French): Vox Pop, Kinshasa resident:
"As far as what has happened over the past few days, I don't understand it. I don't understand why there was any conflict. They have to clearly tell us what is going on. I don't understand. And it was a waste of time, we don't need a second confrontation."
7. Various of a PAREC (an local NGO) office that has been looted
8. SOUNDBITE (Lingala) Vox Pop, Kinshasa resident:
"We are not happy about this kind of thing because we have already had the election. Why bring these kind of actions into politics?"
9. Various of locals outside looted office holding contents
10. Exterior of building
11. Mid of UN vehicle with troops
12. Man holding gun
13. Mid of UN officials with men
STORYLINE:
Army rivals loyal to Congo's two presidential candidates turned from battling to policing on Wednesday, patrolling alongside EU units after days of fighting that left up to 31 dead in the capital's worst violence since the 2002 end to war.
A cease-fire brokered by the United Nations on Tuesday ended three days of fighting between President Joseph Kabila's army loyalists and those of his campaign rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba.
The truce appeared to be holding, much to the relief of local residents.
"Today is good compared to yesterday," said one Kinshasa resident to an Associated Press Television crew.
"Everyone wishes for calm to return so that people can get back to their normal business," said another.
While Congo's eastern borderlands remain violent, widespread fighting hadn't hit Kinshasa since the 2002 peace accords that established a national-unity government.
The clashes left 31 people dead, a Congolese military official said on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters.
The fighting has raised political tensions as the two candidates prepare to campaign before an October 29 runoff election.
Some citizens were downbeat Wednesday, fearing more strife.
"It was a waste of time, we don't need a second confrontation," a Kinshasa resident said.
The two factions started fighting Sunday when results from Congo's historic election showed Kabila and Bemba, an ex-rebel leader who became vice president in the transitional administration, would face each other in a runoff vote.
Tuesday's fighting raged for hours until the United Nations, with 17,500 peacekeepers in Congo, demanded a halt to hostilities and UN envoy William Swing began brokering truce talks.
Kabila's special presidential guards had withdrawn from outside Bemba's house, where Swing and other diplomats were meeting with Bemba Monday when fighting erupted outside the compound.
EU and UN troops evacuated the foreign envoys.
Aides said Kabila ordered his loyalists back to barracks and that Bemba had done similarly.
The UN confirmed that all Congo army troops were ordered back to their original positions and that Bemba was put under UN Protection.
Even with the end to fighting that saw Kabila's forces using tanks against Bemba's fighters, deep-rooted enmities remain in Congo's armed forces.
Congo has some 100,000 troops.
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