DRC: in North Kivu, the feeling of abandonment of the population
Audio 00:54
Downtown Butembo, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (file photo).
Wikimedia/Creative Commons CC by Glooh at English Wikipedia
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the military governor of the province of North Kivu “calls on the population to immediately cease their demonstrations which benefit the terrorists”.
The military authorities justify this decision by the violence that has shaken the region for weeks.
A decision that is contested by the civil society movement LUCHA.
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Friday in the city of Butembo,
five police officers were killed
on the sidelines of a demonstration against insecurity.
Earlier in the week in the same city, more than 800 detainees from the central prison of Kakwangura escaped following an attack attributed to ADF combatants accompanied by Mai-Mai militiamen, which killed two policemen.
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To read also
: in the DRC, concern after the ADF attack in the city of Butembo so far spared
Through his spokesperson, General Sylvain Ekengé, the military governor of North Kivu says "
understand the fed up of the population, but considers the armed attacks against the defense and security forces intolerable
".
A decision that is contested by the civil society movement LUCHA.
For Grace Kabera, who represents the movement in Goma, the military authorities must admit that the state of siege has failed.
She was joined by Sidy Yansané
.
"
We feel like we've been abandoned, we feel like Monusco isn't doing anything at all, we feel like the state of siege has failed, it was a measure that was supposed to take thirty days , but here we are more than twelve months away.
We think that the military governor should abstain, and should not pronounce on these kinds of questions and make such fierce decisions. We are in a state where the population has to take care of itself, even when we are at home, even when we are not demonstrating, the people who kill the populations find them in their houses, find them in their fields, and everywhere even on the road during their activities, their small shops and all that...
So staying at home, I think it's more dangerous than going to demonstrate, because when we go to demonstrate, we make our voices heard a little higher and a little further. It's an escape to think that if we demonstrate, we let ourselves be infiltrated, there are also rebels who come among us, it's not at all valid, it's nonsense. »
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To read also
: in the DRC, more than 15,000 civilians massacred over the past 15 years in North Kivu and Ituri
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