APA- Kinshasa (DR Congo) Conflict in the east, feuds with its neighbours Rwanda and Kenya are overshadowing DR Congo’s December 20th elections as President Felix Tshisekedi bids for a second five-year term.
For years now it’s eastern Kivu province has been blighted by insecurity thanks to an ongoing war with M23 rebels whom Kinshasa say are receiving support from the government of Rwanda, a charge Kigali has always denied.
Over 120 rebel groups are thought to be involved in one conflict or another for the control of land and resources in the mineral-rich country with some its neighbours lurking for the spoils, according to some reports in Kinshasa.
Over six million people had died and millions more displaced in the civil strife dating back to the mid-1990s.
Just days before the crucial vote in DR Congo, a new spat had developed with Kenya after a Congolese rebel coalition announced its launch in Nairobi, leading to tensions and a diplomatic knee jerk between the two countries.
Relations have deteriorated so quickly that it has adversely affected Kinshasa’s ties with the East African Community (EAC) just weeks after it was accepted as its newest member.
Tshisekedi has since recalled his ambassador from Kenya and Tanzania and barred EAC election observers from entering DR Congo to monitor Wednesday’s elections.
Meanwhile DR Congo’s national boundaries have been shut over the exercise according to an order by the Director General of Migration (DGM), Roland Kashwantale.
Forty-four million people are registered to vote in the concurrent presidential, parliamentary, provincial and municipal elections.
The circulation of goods and persons within the territory by intercity road, railway, and airlines is also banned from Tuesday to Wednesday midnight (local time), a statement by the DGM.
DR Congo’s air, land and sea borders have been closed on Wednesday from 0:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. local time to allow the country to calmly organise the general elections.
Domestic flights are also being suspended, except for international flights at international airports, the statement added.
CU/as/APA