KINSHASA (Reuters) – Dozens of people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Beni marched, barricaded roads and burned tires on Thursday to protest against the electoral commission’s decision to exclude its voters from Sunday’s presidential election in the African nation. Congo’s electoral commission (CENI) announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling the vote in Beni, its surrounding areas and the nearby city of Butembo due to an ongoing Ebola outbreak and militia violence affecting the area. Photos posted on Twitter by activist group Lucha, which is participating in the demonstration, showed dozens of people marching down Beni’s main boulevard with Congolese flags and Lucha banners. That has triggered violent protests in which security forces have killed dozens of people. It has also stoked militia violence in Congo’s eastern borderlands with Rwanda and Uganda as armed groups moved to exploit a perceived power vacuum.

Source: Egypt Independent December 27, 2018 12:11 UTC