Eastern Congo Readies for Election, Faces Troubling Set-backs
Final preparations are underway in eastern Congo for the elections, now just days away. The National Independent Electoral Commission, known by its French acronym CENI, is ardently posting ballot papers, giving accreditations to political parties’ witnesses and independent observers, printing new voter cards for those who lost them, and setting up ballot boxes. It is also sorting out how to handle ghost polling stations and settling claims by voters whose names have gone missing from polling lists ...
Upcoming Elections in Congo: Do They Matter?
Congo is also known for its impressive natural resource wealth, yet it is as rich in resources as it is in atrocities given the fact that it has been ravaged by successive wars for more than 15 years. The province of South Kivu and its capital city, Bukavu, is one of the worst conflict-affected areas in eastern Congo. In light of the conflict and hardship in the East, I asked myself: Do the upcoming elections matter here? Across the country and here in South Kivu the campaign is the subject of countless conversations among the locals. I spent some time ...