DRC-North Kivu: civil society urges people to boycott the electoral process
Civil society in Masisi, Rutshuru, Nyiragongo and Beni, calls on local residents not to enlist until security has stabilized in the armed conflict areas. In a press release on Wednesday, a day before the start of the electoral process in the eastern Congo. In a press release, they reckon that the election should take place, in the province of North Kivu, when security is restored. INFO SOS Médias Burundi
Jean Claude Bambanze, president of the forces vives of Rutshuru under occupation of M23 rebels, says the security situation remains volatile in the eastern DRC.
“The Congolese authorities must be serious about this issue. This tells us that our authorities in Kinshasa are not worried about the situation of displaced people in Rutshuru and other parts of the province. I don’t understand how the government can organize the elections. A large number of voters are in the camps for displaced in Kanyarutchinya and everywhere else,” Mr. Bambanze said.
“Organizing elections in areas occupied by rebels excludes a group of the population from participating in the elections,” said Mambo Kawaya, head of civil society in the territory of Nyiragongo, partly controlled by M23.
He calls on people of Nyiragongo to boycott the process as long as the DRC leaders do not find a lasting solution to the security issue in the North Kivu province.
The coordination of civil society movements in Masisi also calls for a boycott of the elections until the security situation is stable.
“We are not ready to vote because the population is suffering. We have security crisis in the territory of Nyiragongo, that’s why we call on our compatriots to stay at home because of insecurity”, launched Télésphore Mitondeke, coordinator of the movements of the civil society in Masisi territory.
We must “end the war displaced sites by and then proceed to enlist the Congolese populations, especially those in the east” he added.
The ethnic Hutu youth in the DRC also called on the Congolese government to end war in the eastern DRC before starting the electoral process.
In a statement issued a day before the population enrollment in North Kivu, Modeste Amini Ntamugabumwe, president of the youth gathered within the cultural association “Igisenge”, explained that security should be at the first rank.
“The eastern population needs peace and today it must be a priority for them. But I am surprised to see the Congolese authorities organizing series of elections without taking into account the security situation which has an impact on voters. This is a serious problem that we as the youth of the DRC are denouncing and we believe that it must have a solution because the people of the east have right to a lasting peace and not to the personal interests of a few politicians who want to mislead us,” he said.
He regrets seeing displaced people in the four corners of the province without competent authorities having any idea of bringing them back to their villages of origin.
Recall that several groups of the civil society continuously oppose the electoral process in the east following the persistent insecurity in this part of Congo. The vast Central African country whose eastern region has been plunged into a security crisis for three decades is organizing general elections on December 20 this year.
