We buy petrol in soft-drink bottles because we can afford only small amounts. And yet Congo is supposed to be one of the great countries of Africa."Mr Litanda, an economics student, said Congo, with its unparalleled mineral resources and fertility, should be rich and its 50 million people should be driving nice cars "The leaders are all the same," he said. "They eat the wealth and they share it only with their families. I do not expect anything to change with the new Kabila."Across this city of five million people, the view altered little. But it was expressed in doorways, quietly, a habit that developed among this party-loving, outgoing population in the 44 months since Kabila took power from the previous tyrant, Mobutu Sese Seko, who reigned for 32 years."Can you believe - we actually miss those days?" said Mr Litanda.

Civil servants and soldiers are the only ones who offer a different view "The whites did it." they hiss at visiting journalists.

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"Get out of our country once and for all." To them, the Kinshasa government's propaganda is logic: Kabila was killed by the Ugandan and Rwandan-backed rebels occupying half of the DRC. Uganda and Rwanda, they say, are sponsored by the West.An uncertain calm reigns ahead of President Joseph Kabila's inauguration next week. The UN secretary-general's envoy in Kinshasa, Kamel Morjane, said he met him yesterday* Dozens of people were killed in fighting with machetes, spears and rifles between ethnic groups in the north-east of the DRC yesterday, said UN sources..

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe violated the constitution when he issued a decree banning opposition lawsuits over disputed election results, lawyers for the main opposition party argued yesterday. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe violated the constitution when he issued a decree banning opposition lawsuits over disputed election results, lawyers for the main opposition party argued yesterday. Mr Mugabe abused his presidential powers to protect his ruling party from litigation that could prove it won the June parliamentary elections through corruption, vote buying, vote rigging, violence and intimidation, said the Movement for Democratic Change at a hearing in the nation's highest court.The opposition is contesting 38 of the 120 parliamentary districts polled in contentious elections. Chris Andersen, an opposition lawyer, told the five Supreme Court judges that Mr Mugabe, an elected leader, issued the decree to serve his own personal interests and not those of the electorate as a whole."The tail should not wag the dog. If it does, the consequences are autocratic and undemocratic government" in violation of the constitution, which Mr Mugabe swore in his oath of office to uphold, Mr Andersen said. Mr Mugabe decreed on 8 December that no court hearings could be held to invalidate disputed election results. His official notice said poll results could not be contested "in the interest of democracy, peace, security and stability" even if voting irregularities had been established..