For these members of the ruling party, civil society is taking the entire population hostage through lies that cannot be verified. Francine Mwangaza specifies that there is no proof of Rwandan police entering Congolese soil that could justify the protest. This UDPS official also deplores the passivity of urban and territorial state authorities in allowing a segment of people to organize a dead city day to the detriment of Congolese state interests.

"Do you know how much revenue the Congolese state loses as a result of this dead city day without valid reason? The representatives of the head of state in these entities did nothing to prevent this barbarity committed by people with political intentions," concludes Francine Mwangaza, federal president of UDPS South-Kivu rural.

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Urban authorities, for their part, made statements on local radio waves and in markets on the eve of the dead city day asking the population to go about their business but in vain. Kifara Kapenda, deputy mayor of the city of Uvira, held a press briefing on the eve of the protest, specifying that they had not been informed of any dead city day taking place. This urban authority called on residents to freedom of choice in the context of respect for democracy.

Recall that all activities remained paralyzed on Tuesday, December 28 in the Uvira municipality. The population responded to the call for a dead city day organized by the new Congolese civil society to say no to the announcement of Rwandan police entering the DRC. Activities resumed around 4 p.m.

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Josephine Mungubi