The cost of war which stands at four million lives, a history of dictators, and arguably the most expensive election in history has focused attention squarely on the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Having waited 41 years for elections in this mineral-rich but economically bankrupt country, the Congolese have shown great enthusiasm for the $420-million elections scheduled for July 30.
All along the Avenue du 30 Juin, the main thoroughfare in Kinshasa, a myriad of party colours, slogans and faces stare back at passing traffic.
Most prominent among them are the current political elite.
The plentiful posters of Movement for the Liberation of the Congo's Jean Pierre Bemba call for peace and justice, the round face with narrow eyes contorted in a benevolent gaze in front of a powder blue background of the outline of the country.
Ironic perhaps for a man who has warned that if he is not happy with the result there will be blood on the streets.
Often depicted as a thug, Bemba came to power on the back of the MLC's strong military power in the south-east of the country.
An accomplished businessman, Bemba is one of four vice presidents and seems unlikely to garner any serious support among the almost 26 million voters taking part in the elections.
But fears remain that he will plunge the country back into all-out war with many of the resources he wielded during the civil war less than five years ago, still readily at his disposal.
Holding this colonial construct together has proven a near impossibility with uprisings a continual threat to rulers in part attributing for democracy never fully taking root.
Democratic elections in 1965 which brought to power Patrice Lumumba ended abruptly with his assassination and almost 30 years of dictatorship under Mobutu Sese Seko. More than a decade of civil wars which accounted for almost four million lives, was brought to an end with the creation of a transitional government which came to power in 2002.
But the top government positions went to the victorious rebel leaders with a smattering of civilian representatives.
Staying in power a year longer than their mandate, the transitional government has sorely tested the patience of the Congolese people who are eager to see their country gain a sense of stability and have a genuinely democratic government of their choosing. - Independent Foreign Service