In eastern DRC, decades of conflict weigh heavy on upcoming election
As voters in Democratic Republic of Congo prepare to cast their ballots in next week's general election, they're weighing up issues from mining to corruption. But for many in the east of the country, it is President Felix Tshisekedi's failure to ease decades of violence that looms largest.
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The vote on 20 December will be DRC's first since 2018, when Tshisekedi was declared the winner after a power-sharing deal with his predecessor.
The sitting president now faces a challenge from veteran opposition politician Martin Fayulu, who claims to have been the true winner five years ago, and from Moise Katumbi, a former mining magnate.
In the eastern provinces, 1,500 kilometres from the capital Kinshasa, many direct their anger at politicians who they say have done little to help.
"We have never seen change... we've fled wars many times," 20-year-old Ishara Bahati Yassin, one of millions of internally displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, told Reuters news agency.
"There is not one government... that has helped us live in peace and quiet like in other countries," said Yassin, who now lives in a camp outside the city of Goma in North Kivu province.
Legacy of war
Worsening attacks by armed groups have killed thousands and displaced nearly 7 million people, many of whom live in crowded camps without running water, power or reliable access to jobs and food.
The United Nations has described it as one of the world's biggest humanitarian crises.
In some areas, insecurity may mean people are unable to vote.
"It will be impossible to hold elections in large parts of North Kivu, which is one of the major provinces of the country. And that will, of course, impact the credibility of the election," independent researcher Dino Mahtani told Reuters.
Congo's insecurity is in part an unresolved legacy of a civil war that officially ended in 2003. Ethnic rivalries and a tussle for resources continue to fuel tensions.
Fighting intensified under Tshisekedi's watch as the resurgent rebel M23 group carried out a campaign of killings, rape and kidnapping in response to an army clampdown.
Some residents fear things will get worse now that Tshisekedi ordered a fast-track withdrawal of a UN peacekeeping mission stationed in the east.
'Deteriorating day after day'
For the millions of people living amid insecurity there, the UN says the humanitarian situation is worsening.
"The situation has deteriorated and it keeps deteriorating day after day after day," said Suzanna Tkalec, the UN deputy humanitarian coordinator for Congo, who told Reuters that the displacement camps are "totally inadequate for a dignified type of life".
It's not yet clear how insecurity will affect voting.
The electoral commission last week asked the presidency to provide aircraft to distribute voting materials, difficult in areas beset by conflict.
Meanwhile the conflict in the east and other areas has left more than a million citizens without voter registration cards, according to the International Crisis Group.
Yassin remains determined.
"We are going to vote because we must be able to bring in someone who will bring us change and development once in power," he said.
(with Reuters)
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