Tensions rise as arsonists burn 7,000 voting machines ahead of DRC election

Opposition supporters accuse Kabila regime of trying to postpone historic vote

Jason Burke in Mbuji Mayi
Thu 13 Dec 2018 17.10 GMT

A fire has destroyed much of an election commission warehouse in Kinshasa as tensions rise in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with just 10 days to go before historic presidential elections which could see the country’s first-ever democratic transition of power or bring further instability and violence.

The fire damaged thousands of controversial new voting machines and has stoked fears the poll will be undermined by logistic challenges and fraud.

Barnabé Kikaya bin Karubi, a presidential adviser, blamed unidentified “criminals“ for the blaze, which destroyed about 7,000 of the 10,000 voting machines due to be used in the capital, Kinshasa, but said preparations for the 23 December election were continuing.

Kikaya said police guarding the warehouse – located in the upscale and usually secure Gombe riverside area of Kinshasa – had been arrested but made no further comment on what or who might have caused the blaze.

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