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DRC eases border post closure due to street pressure

2020-05-07T21:42:03.242Z



The Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Thursday the partial reopening for pedestrians of a border post with Zambia after a day of demonstration against this preventive measure taken in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read also: DRC: resumption of traffic on Lake Kivu between Goma and Bukavu

Clashes between civilians and security forces in Kasumbalesa (south-east), crossing point to Zambia and southern Africa, with property damage (vandalized police station and several arrests), according to the mayor and civil society contacted by an AFP correspondent. The demonstrators protested against the closure since March 20 of all land, air and sea borders by decision of President Félix Tshisekedi.

"As Kasumbalesa depends largely on products from countries in southern Africa and also from Zambia, the population has difficulty living," said the mayor, André Kapampa. "The population demanded opening or access to Zambia". "As of tomorrow (Friday) the pedestrian corridors will be open," he added, adding that pedestrians will have to comply with preventive measures (wearing a mask, taking a temperature, social distancing).

It is also a question of avoiding that illegal immigrants pass by “porous ways” , which “can import the disease to us” , added the mayor. Kasumbalesa has registered at least one case of Covid-19, a Congolese who returned from abroad. The border town was confined for a single day on April 29 to find contacts for this case. Small Congolese traders smuggle through the night, but controls along the border have been tightened over the past four days, said a member of civil society, Pierre Mwepu. "Zambia has not closed" the border, he said.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-05-07

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