Masisi : Residents demand return to peace before enlisting

The population of the territory of Masisi in the province of North Kivu demands that authorities put an end to insecurity before proceeding with the registration of voters in this part of the province of North Kivu. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Some residents met in the Mupfunyi-Karuba groupment said that they would only enlist if security were restored in the region.

“We will move on to enrollment when security is restored in our territory of Masisi. We are in total insecurity,” said Gervais Bahati, a farmer from Karuba.

For him, it would be impossible to register, especially since several Congolese in the region have fled their households.

“The first thing is to see our compatriots confined in camps for displaced people returning to their places of origin. We cannot go to the start of enlistment whereas our brothers are suffering in camps in Nyiragongo and everywhere else”, lamented a father.

Jean Bosco Sebishishimbo Rubuga, a deputy elected in the constituency of Masisi indicates that the government must “put an end to security problems in the province and then proceed with the registration of voters”.

“The majority of the population fled the clashes and do not have access to the enrollment centers”, explained this elected representative of the people.

“We do not understand how our government can start the electoral process without thinking about the daily life of Congolese people in general and that of the inhabitants of the province of North Kivu in particular. For us, security remains a priority, enlistment afterwards”, he insisted.

The registration of voters in the eastern region of Congo started last Thursday. Except in a few towns where members of the Rwandophone and Burundian communities living in the DRC as well as Congolese Tutsis and members of the Banyamulenge community have been denied the right to register, the process is going well. Congolese authorities have discouraged initiators of the movement, which calls on other Congolese and CENI agents to “exclude these categories”.