Incumbent President Joseph Kabila was inaugurated on December 20 for a new term and vowed to increase the pace of modernization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) . . . Kabila has ruled since his father was assassinated in 2001 . . . the opposition party led by Etienne Tshisekedi plans to have himself sworn in as president today after he refused to acknowledge the victory of Kabila . . . the election was highly contentious due to violence and allegations of fraud, however Kabila won with a vote of 49 percent to 32 percent for Tshisekedi in a field that included 11 candidates . . . Congolese security forces have been accused of killing at least 24 people during the elections, according to Human Rights Watch . . .Congo is rich in copper, diamonds, cobalt, gold, silver, zinc and coltan . . . the dual inaugurations is expected to result in the arrest of Tshisekedi . . . this arrest could prove to be a spark that could escalate the highly volatile situation in the country into further violence and lead to chaos . . . if violence erupts it will damage Kinshasa’s mining industry, which would hurt world markets.