Lusaka — Yesterday's historic elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have raised hopes that this sister nation of ours can finally find a new era of peace and prosperity after centuries of violent, blood-spattered history.

The people of DRC really want and deserve to break out of this tragic cycle.

No one can be sure what will follow yesterday's elections because from past experience anything can happen in DRC and frequently does. The results of these elections could either stabilise the DRC or push it back into conflict.

But the fact that the people of DRC yesterday went to the polls to choose a new president in the first multi-party elections since independence nearly half a century ago is a monumental exercise in democracy and we hope this will end decades of dictatorship, war and corruption.

With ex-rebel leaders who once governed large chunks of this impoverished nation as private fiefdoms running against a young incumbent who brought them into the government to end years of fighting, there is much at stake in the vote that puts the DRC at the crossroads of continued conflict or peace. Tensions are running high and dozens have died in election- related violence.

And there are a lot of logistical problems that make these necessary elections complicated. Counting ballots from remote jungles and villages with no roads or electricity will not be easy and first-round results may not be known for many days if not weeks.

Security and development have been the top issues in the run-up to these elections. In this gigantic country with only 960 kilometres of paved roads, candidates tried very hard to channel Congolese anger. President Joseph Kabila promised he had the best vision for Congo: "I want highways from north to south, from east to west. I want universities in the capital of each province. I want to improve the situation of the people."

We have no doubt that's what the 25 million Congolese who had registered to participate in yesterday's elections are hoping for; this is what the 58 million DRC citizens are hoping for; this is what the people of this country - one of the world's poorest nations despite the huge natural resources that have long fuelled the country's wars - are yearning for.

It is necessary to bear in mind that despite the negotiated end to fighting in 2002, DRC's east remains violent and is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Aid groups say 1,000 people are dying needless deaths each day - from violence, disease and starvation. UN troops and DRC army regulars still battle militia fighters, although the three main militia groups in volatile Ituri Province promised to lay down arms to allow yesterday's vote to go ahead.

We hope yesterday's elections will produce a legitimate leader who can plaster over DRC's decisions by boosting the economy and knitting together security forces that at the moment remain factionalised and loyal to individual leaders and not to the state. The DRC leader who will emerge from these elections will have to deliver on promises of betterment - and not just to loyalists and ethnic kinsmen, as has been the practice during decades of leaders' patronage.

But after years of corrupt, heavy-handed rule, evidence remains that a free and fair vote alone will not steer all the Congolese people away from the gun, from violence and conflict.

There is still a lot that has to do with the disorganisation in the way this county's economic affairs are organised. It shouldn't be forgotten that invading armies and local warlords, followed closely by foreign mining companies, have coveted DRC's huge mineral wealth, which includes cobalt, copper, gold, diamonds and more recently coltan, used in mobile phone technology.

Having a weak-to-nonexistent central government and a wealth of natural resources is a guarantee of getting exploited. Probably some Congolese are partly right when they say they wouldn't be in such trouble if their country wasn't so rich or endowed with mineral wealth.

Clearly, DRC will need a lot of international help following these elections. This support will be needed not only for the political stabilisation of the country but to also help whoever is elected as president to deliver on their electoral promises to improve the situation of the people. Of course we do realise that already a lot has been put by the international community into these elections.

We are aware that these elections are a half billion-dollar enterprise supported by the United Nations and safe guarded by the largest peace-keeping force in the world and 2,000 more European troops.

But as we have already pointed out, these elections - no matter how free and fair they may be - on their own will not steer the DRC from conflict and violence. It will be much more the delivery on promises of betterment that can help stabilise this country.

But at this stage, and despite the country's gigantic natural resources, international financial and technical support will be critical. We are all hoping for a better DRC after these elections but it won't come on its own. All who hope for it will have to put in something to realise it.

DRC is really at the crossroads of continued conflict or peace and there's much at stake in yesterday's vote.