This week, people in the Democratic Republic of Congo voted for president and parliament.On Friday, President Joseph Kabilatook an early lead in the vote count.Election officials have saidthey will publish the full results by Tuesday,when his term ends.Some of his ten opponents want the votes cancelled.Parliamentary results are not expected until January.Human Rights Watch says election-related violencekilled at least eighteen civiliansand seriously wounded one hundred others.The government says it is preparingfor the possibility of more violenceafter the results are announced.Congo is no stranger to violence.The country formerly called Zairehas faced international pressureto stop an epidemic of rapes.Five years ago it passed stronger lawsagainst sexual violence.Then, in February, a military courtin eastern Congo sentenced an army commanderto twenty years in prison for crimes against humanity.Lieutenant Colonel Kibibi Mutwarewas found guilty of sending his troopson New Year's Day to rape, beat and steal in Fizi.The United Nations noted it was the first timea high-level DRC commander was arrested,tried and sentenced for conflict-related sexual violence.Judges also sentenced three of his officers to twenty years,and five soldiers to long sentences as well.All sides in the DRC have longused sexual violence as a weapon of war.This woman told her story to reporter Heather Murdock.WOMAN : "I was married and I was pregnant.Rebel soldiers came to loot and they raped me. killed my baby and now I have a disease."Officials and activists agree that the situationis better now in eastern Congo.Congo's two thousand six rape law has made a difference.The central prison in North Kivuis crowded with men found guilty of rape.But lawyers and victims say lawlessnessin the countryside means many rapists go unpunished.North Kivu's Justice Minister Francois Tuyihimbaze Rucogoza saysmost of the victims live deep in lawless rural areas.But he says the rape law has slowed the rate of attacks.FRANCOIS TUYIHIMBAZE RUCOGOZA : "The militaryhelps impose justice in places we cannot go.For example, where there is a military operation,they help us punish the perpetrators of sexual violence."At the same time, officials say international pressureto stop the rapes in Congo has had an unintended effect.The law, they say, establishes no differencebetween sexual violence and sex under the age of eighteen.Yet when younger girls get married,that means their young husbands are technically guilty of rape.This prisoner named Kakule sayshe is guilty only of marrying youngand not being able to pay a dowry.KAKULE: "I went to my girlfriend's family to propose marriage,but I had nothing to give for a dowry.When her family realized we were still together,they accused me of rape."Aids workers and victims say the only real wayto stop the rapes is to end the many years of conflictthat Congo has suffered.And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.