2024 RT Amination Banner.gif

China Daily

News> World> Content
Thursday, December 27, 2018, 19:58
Congo police fire bullets, tear gas amid election protest
By Associated Press
Thursday, December 27, 2018, 19:58 By Associated Press

Congolese National Police arrest a man at Majengo neighborhood in Goma on Dec 27, 2018 during a demonstration against the postponement of the general elections in the area because of the Ebola outbreak and the mass killings of civilians in this trouble part of DRC. (PATRICK MEINHARDT / AFP)

BENI, Congo — Police in eastern Congo fired live ammunition and tear gas on Thursday to disperse dozens of people protesting a presidential election delay that means more than 1 million votes will not count.

The protesters in Beni said the delay announced Wednesday by Congo's electoral commission makes no sense. 

The delay of Sunday's election until March for Beni and Butembo city is blamed on a deadly Ebola outbreak, with a similar delay in Yumbi blamed on insecurity. The rest of the country is still set to vote on Sunday, with "definitive" results announced on Jan 15 and the inauguration three days later.

We participated in campaigning and there were no Ebola infections. Why can a single day of voting cancel the elections for us? 

Clovis Mutsuva, LUCHA activist organization

Opposition candidates call the delay a ploy to hurt their chances at the polls in areas where sentiment has turned against the ruling party in recent years.

READ MORE: 3 opposition cities excluded from Congo presidential election

Angry protesters in Beni marched to the local election office demanding the right to vote on Sunday with the rest of Congo. Others chanted for longtime President Joseph Kabila to go. Kabila has said he is stepping aside after the election, which has been delayed for more than two years amid sometimes deadly protests. He backs a ruling party candidate but many Congolese believe he will wield power behind the scenes.

The protesters also demanded that the electoral commission's president resign. They pointed out that candidates have campaigned in Beni and Butembo with no problems, while school, church and other activities continue despite the Ebola virus outbreak.

"We will continue with our marches until (commission president Corneille Nangaa) and his entourage let us vote because it is our right as Congolese," said Clovis Mutsuva with the LUCHA activist organization.

ALSO READ: Congo delays presidential vote until Dec 30, citing fire

"We participated in campaigning and there were no Ebola infections," Mutsuva added. "Why can a single day of voting cancel the elections for us?"

Several hundreds of people demonstrate in Beni, easter, Democratic Republic of Congo to protest against the postponement of the general elections in the area, Dec 27, 2018. (ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP)

The election already had been pushed from Dec 23 to Sunday after a fire in the capital, Kinshasa, destroyed voting materials. Congo has some 40 million registered voters who will decide the fate of a vast country rich in mineral wealth but desperately poor in infrastructure and basic services.

The latest delay has caused fresh frustration in Beni, where rebel attacks have killed more than 1,500 people in the past four years. Such attacks have hurt efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak, which since being declared Aug 1 has seen 585 cases, including 308 confirmed deaths.

Congo's health minister, Dr Oly Ilunga, has called this Ebola outbreak the most complex in history. In an interview with The Associated Press on Dec 20, however, he said decisions about holding the election in the Ebola zone had been made with electoral authorities, and sought to calm concerns.

The Ebola virus is spread via infected bodily fluids, and some have worried about using the touchscreens of voting machines. The health minister said precautions had been taken. Several tons of hand sanitizer were deployed for use in polling stations, and voters were to be screened for fever before entering polling stations.

Share this story

CHINA DAILY
HONG KONG NEWS
OPEN
Please click in the upper right corner to open it in your browser !