Use our pull-down menus to find more stories
  


OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Click here to read or make comments on this topic »

Congo-Kinshasa: Curfew Imposed in Equateur to Stem Worsening Insecurity


UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
 

Email This Page

Print This Page

Comment on this article

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

28 November 2007
Posted to the web 28 November 2007

Kinshasa

Authorities in the northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province of Equateur have imposed a nighttime curfew in the area until further notice in a bid to curb insecurity, including murder and extortion by armed men.

"We want to stop rising incidents of insecurity," the governor of the province, Jose Makila, who announced the curfew on 27 November, told IRIN.

The curfew between 11pm and 5am will apply mostly in Equateur's capital, Mbadaka, and other areas of the province where cases of murder and extortion have been on the rise, he said.

"There are many armed men roaming about, especially at night, committing murder and extortion. They have not been properly identified, but we know there are at least 18,000 former rebels at large," Makila said, adding that gunfire was heard almost every night in Mbadaka and other areas of the province, with victims found dead in the morning.

The majority of the demobilised rebels came from the Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo (MLC), an armed group headed by Jean-Pierre Bemba, who went into exile after the unrest that hit DRC's capital, Kinshasa, after he lost presidential elections to Joseph Kabila in 2006.

A demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration process, which was initiated with the formal end to the civil war in the DRC in 2002, has not been completed.

Military authorities in Equateur, however, denied that former fighters were behind the insecurity.

General Michel Ekutshu, the army commander in charge of Equateur, said three officers from the national army had been arrested and would be tried for aggravating insecurity by selling ammunition to poachers operating in the Salonga national park in the south of the province.

Relevant Links

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]



AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.

 
Share this on:
Facebook
Digg
Del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
Muti


Copyright © 2007 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed

Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe

Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.

HOME
allAfrica.com


Relevant Links




Country in Tourism Gear
North Kivu - Monuc Condemns the Obvious Attempt By the CNDP to Capture Nyanzele
Wild Animals Breathe Easy As Soldiers Leave Historic Park
States Agree to Introduce New Vaccine for Meningitis
Country Truly on Road to Modern Agriculture





Today's Most Active Stories