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BARAKA, Congo - Thousands of Congolese refugees are piling their furniture, bicycles, pots and pans onto barely seaworthy boats and heading back to their war-ravaged homeland, determined to vote in presidential elections.

''I want peace, I want to vote and I want a good life for my children,'' said Mukato Selemani after crossing Lake Tanganyika aboard a blue barge from Tanzania on Saturday, nine years after fleeing pillaging gunmen. ''A real citizen will not miss the elections.''

Selemani, 29, does not even know if his village still exists.

But he joined the thousands of refugees making the journey back home in hopes of voting in the election next year - their vast mineral-rich country's first in nearly half a century.

While the vote is not until next year, Congolese must register now if they want to participate. Authorities began registering voters in June for a constitutional referendum later this year that will pave the way for the 2006 presidential vote.

The registration process, staggered by region, began in South Kivu province last week. The government expects to register about half of the nation's 60 million people.

President Joseph Kabila's transitional government, based in the distant capital, Kinshasa, is hoping the long-awaited ballot will usher in a peaceful era after back-to-back wars that began in 1996 ended in 2002. Millions died, most from hunger and disease.

Conflicts in neighboring Burundi and Rwanda have also spilled over into Congo. Much of the east remains lawless, however, and banditry and militia attacks are commonplace.

An estimated 380,000 refugees still live in neighboring African countries, said Jan Hesemann, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Congo. On the other side of Lake Tanganyika, 150,000 of them are living in Tanzania, hoping to return to the toppled walls and roofless churches that have become symbols of Congo's conflict.

Over the last month, around 4,000 refugees have boarded private boats and barges, crossing the lake and landing on the beach in Baraka, a small town a three-hour drive south of the provincial capital, Uvira.

From there, the U.N. is helping refugees to return to their villages.