By Updater
As hundreds of people cross the four kilometers of roads that separate the DRC and Burundi every days,this journey has become a real ordeal since the road is submerged by the waters of Lake Tanganyika
No more cars, now you have to travel aboard heavy trucks, all-terrain vehicles or even canoes. Emergency solutions for which you have to pay between 2,000 and 5,000 FCFA, per trip. Significant amounts for these populations which call on the authorities to act urgently.
“Sometimes we fall into the water and risk drowning. We ask the State to help us with this border road ,” laments Safi Mugoli, a passenger who uses this road which has become difficult to access.
For the resident populations, the situation is not more pleasant. In Uvira, the second largest city in South Kivu, the spectacular rise in the waters of Lake Tanganyika is affecting residents and also public establishments, businesses, hotels, bars, restaurants, warehouses and housing.
More than 10,000 families are undergoing this ordeal. “We sleep under tarpaulins with the children, we suffer a lot, because we have nowhere to go. Even to go to the market, you have to take a canoe. If you don’t have money, you have to swim. Women suffer from infections and we are desperate ,” says Francine Mane-Martha, resident of Uvira.
Local authorities say they have taken note and are announcing measures to make daily life easier for people. Questioned, the spokesperson for the provincial government of South Kivu, Tympson Idumbo confirms: ” A bridge is under construction to allow regular crossings. What should have been done in Kamvinvira can also be done in Sange, so we are not inactive, we are always looking for solutions. As long as the government is present, solutions will always be found.
The Kamvinvira border is now the main access route to the Burundian capital, as the country has closed its other borders with Rwanda.