U.N. troops in armored vehicles drive through the streets of Kinhasa, Congo, on Aug. 21.

The army ordered all troops in Kinshasa to disarm as the United Nations sent scores of peacekeepers in armored vehicles to take the foreign diplomats from the home of ex-rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, who will face Kabila in a second-round runoff.

The envoys included the head of the world body's peacekeeping mission, William Swing, and diplomats from the United States, France and other countries.

U.N. spokesman Jean-Tobias Okala said all the envoys were safe after U.N. troops took them from Bemba's home hours after they arrived for a meeting.

With 16.9 million votes cast in the July 30 ballot, Kabila won 45 percent of the vote, less than the 50 percent needed for a president to be declared without a second round of polls, against 20 percent for Bemba, who is a vice president in Kabila's transitional administration. The remainder of the votes cast were shared among 31 other now-vanquished candidates.

Congo's first elections in over four decades are meant to select a legitimate leader to knit together the country's 58 million people and end the years of corrupt rule and war that have roiled this vast nation and wider Central Africa.

The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 26, 2006
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