Congo held its first national democratic poll in 40 years today but pockets of violence marred the vote on a new constitution aimed at ending decades of dictatorship, war and chaos.
From schools in the sprawling riverside capital Kinshasa to thatched huts in the jungle and tarpaulin tents in the lawless east of the vast African nation, voters queued from early in the morning for a ballot many regard as crucial to their future - even though most have never seen the text.
It provides for a decentralised political system with provincial administrations responsible for local decision-making and controlling 40 per cent of public funds. It also limits the president to two five-year terms, and requires the president to nominate a prime minister from the parliamentary majority.
"I do not know what is contained in this constitution, but what I know is that today's vote is a vote for peace. Whoever votes "no" in today's referendum to us is an enemy of peace," said motorbike taxi driver Janvier Eilimwa in Goma, eastern Congo.
EU observers said turnout was high across the country. Voting in many places began an hour or two late and there were isolated clashes in some places.
Kinshasa riot police clashed with a group of around 20 youths who gathered outside a polling station and told people not to vote. The youths began hurling rocks at the police, who detained at least one of the group.
"The level of participation here is very low. When people registered here this place was packed. maybe it is because of the calls for a boycott and fears of violence," said Patrice Bovile, an accredited election observer, outside the virtually deserted polling station in Kinshasa's Matonge district.
In Goma police beat a couple of dozen people with batons as they tried to force a crowd of nearly 200 into a single queue at a polling station, according to a witness.
Polling stations will stay open tomorrow to give more people the chance to vote.
The referendum is the first step towards polls planned for next year and meant to draw a line under Congo's last conflict, which officially ended in 2003 and has killed nearly 4 million people since 1998, mostly from hunger and disease.