DR CONGO: A huge logistics operation is underway in the DRC to bring the vote to remote villages as U.N. troops reassure locals of security ahead of Sunday's elections

Record ID: 789065

  • Title: DR CONGO: A huge logistics operation is underway in the DRC to bring the vote to remote villages as U.N. troops reassure locals of security ahead of Sunday's elections
  • Date: 28th July 2006
  • Summary: (BN11) SHABUNDA, EASTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (JULY 27, 2006) (REUTERS) (PART MUTE) AERIALS OVER SHABUNDA STREET SCENE SHABUNDA ELECTION BANNER ELECTION POSTERS RCD PARTY FLAG UNITED NATIONS (U.N.) UNLOADING SUPPLIES PAKISTANI U.N. SOLDIER CONGOLESE WOMAN WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Lijani) YA BASUKU SAYING: "Why aren't there any roads? Because there are many people who want to come and vote. All the villages: Kiluba, Ayangana, Katchanga - there is no access? And there are people being killed over there, beheaded, why?" INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION (IEC) SIGN IEC OFFICE BUILDING IEC MOTORCYCLES ARRIVE PEOPLE WAITING OUTSIDE IEC THUMBPRINT MACHINE INTERIOR IEC OFFICE COMPUTERS IN IEC OFFICE STREET SCENE
  • Embargoed: 12th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA06E9S1GIJ8NMG34O5QVRB6EZ
  • Story Text: Elections may be drawing closer for 40 million Congolese, but that won't matter to some villagers. A huge logistics operation is underway getting voting materials and polling stations to remote villages in the massive country.
    But some villages are just too remote, or still too dangerous for villagers to take part in this historic election.
    Shabunda, an isolated territory in South Kivu, is preparing for the first elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in over forty years. A territory of dense forest, it has served as a hiding ground for multiple armed groups since the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda.
    The population is traumatised; many of the women were victims of rape, children were stolen to be made child soldiers and entire communities have had to start from scratch time and time again.
    The first round of presidential and legislative elections scheduled for Sunday (July 30), have given the population of Shabunda something else to think about. Campaign banners, electoral commission education posters and political party flags colour an otherwise bland street.
    The town itself is calm and there is confidence that the United Nations (U.N.) force of 100 Pakistani military will help to provide security during the elections. Even with the U.N. troops that will patrol the immediate area, the problem lies outside of Shabunda town.
    Just 50 kilometers away in Katchungu, there has been recent fighting between Mai Mai rebels and government forces. And with the elections on Sunday, Shabundans fear the military and militia groups will take advantage of any election results to wage war again.
    Despite these fears, the Independent Electoral Commission office in Shabunda is buzzing with activity. 229 voting offices and 73 voting centres, demand extraordinary logistics. The most remote voting office lies 310 kilometers to the north. Materials such as voting cards, ballots, ballot boxes and computers must be carried on foot sometimes taking as many as 10 days to reach their destinations.
    Several areas in the north of the territory are home to Interahamwe, Rwandan militias that perpetrated the 1994 Rwandan genocide before fleeing into the DRC. Despite demobilisation efforts by the U.N., these groups are still present in the region, yet are said to be respecting the electoral process and equipment deployed by the IEC.
    In several other villages, FARDC forces have been deployed to secure Sunday's elections. In the DRC, however, the military have a reputation for their harassment of the population, an activity which many Shabundans say they will not tolerate when it came to their exercising their right to vote.
    Walikale and its surroundings are iconic Congo - primeval rainforests breathing thick white clouds that hug the tree canopy and shroud its green when viewed from above.
    Rapacious rebels, daunting distances and persistent insecurity will challenge voters and indeed the foreign election observers in Walikale, 105 kilometres north west of the southern town of Goma. The territory is large and with no roads, administrators expect delays with people trying to come in to vote.
    Election administrators from government and the U.N. on Thursday (July 27) arrived in Walikale for a final pre-election inspection and preparation.
    "There are centres that are four days' walk through the forest, and I'm sure there will be some places without observers because they are so far away," deputy election administrator in charge of Walikale, Dauda Saidi said.
    Walikale is the scene of a war within a war, a microcosm of a broader regional conflict where groups of armed men prey upon civilians and fight for control of the valuable natural resources found in the DRC.
    The wartime rebels mine coltan, a mineral used in mobile phones, computer games and stealth bombers. Cassiterite, the base element of tin and gold and diamonds are also mined by peasants in rags who dig by hand using hammers.
    Currently the Congolese army is in control of some part of Walikale.
    "My men are in every strategic place, and we have added some more troops to reinforce them, and they are very ready to offer security during the election," Congolese army, Brigadier General Gabriel Amisi, in charge of North Kivu province said.
    "These groups continue to bother us, they extort from people, they rape our women, they beat us and sometimes burn people inside their houses," Walikale resident Shaffiko Kiranga said.
    The army and MONUC say the region is secure, but residents say the Congolese army's control is limited, and that rebels control roads to some polling stations.
    "Our mandate is to protect the population, and in case the population get unrest we are ready to raise operation against these FDLR." said U.N. Brigadier G.V. Satya.
    Three main militia groups in a strife-torn eastern province have agreed to lay down arms and allow free passage of voters during the Democratic Republic of the Congo's historic elections, according to the United Nations.
    jrc/jg
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