Sosthene Kambidi and Marthe Bosuandole -
After more than a year of bloodshed, faint hopes of peace are starting to stir in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the vast region of Kasai, the authorities are now starting to register voters.
“It’s telling proof that peace has returned to the greater Kasai area,” Bernard Kambala Kamilolo, the acting governor of Kasai Central province, said.
Mired in poverty and with a reputation for corruption, DR Congo has a long history of violence, especially in its volatile east.
The diamond-rich Kasai region was deemed a relative haven until August 2016, when a tribal chieftain known as the Kamwina Nsapu, who had rebelled against President Joseph Kabila’s regime in Kinshasa and its local representatives, was killed.
According to UN figures, clashes between local groups and government troops have lead to more than 3,000 deaths, and around 1.4 million people have fled their homes.
The catalogue of violence includes extrajudicial killings, rapes, torture and the use of child soldiers, along with the torching of villages and the destruction of schools, public buildings and clinics.
The big hope is voter registration in the Kasai will open the door for a solution to DR Congo’s dangerous political standoff.
The country was plunged into crisis last year after Kabila — in office since he succeeded his murdered father in 2001 — failed to stand down at the end of what was supposed to be his final term, according to the country’s constitution.
On New Year’s Eve a deal was cut by the regime and the opposition to hold elections by the end of 2017.
But no electoral calendar has been published so far, and there seems no sign of an end to the impasse as Kabila hangs on.
Among the greatest obstacles to holding the ballot is the turmoil in the Kasai provinces — although the authorities have registered 42 million electors in the country’s 24 other provinces.
At a registration centre inside a Catholic school in Kananga, people formed long lines, eager to acquire a voter’s card.
Glody Kabongo said he had got up at dawn in preparation for a six-hour wait but he was unfazed, because the coveted document also serves as an important ID card.
“I am very happy, because I’m a student and this card will save me a lot of hassle,” he said. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
