U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa shut down over terror threat
The United States Embassy in Kinshasa has been temporarily shut for more than four days over the possibility of a terror attack that’s targeted at the facility in DR Congo.
While it did not reveal any details on who was hatching the attack or the scale of the threat, the embassy advised its agents and citizens to keep a low profile in the country.
“US citizens in Kinshasa and throughout the DRC are strongly encouraged to maintain a heightened level of vigilance and practise good situational awareness,” the embassy said.
DR Congo has been grappling with an unending conflict by armed militia group fighting along ethnic and political lines, and also on the basis of controlling the country’s rich mineral resources for over ten years.
Although some foreign aid workers have been caught in the crossfire of the violence in the past, it is highly unlikely that it will spill over to the US Embassy.
DRC authorities have described the closure of the embassy as an unnecessary “psychosis”, but the US officials are not willing to leave anything to chances.
This new development could be as a result of the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming election on December 23 where the country is set to vote in a new president to replace Joseph Kabila whose tenure expired two years ago.
There has been rising pressure on the government to conduct the election after two years of rescinding the exercise. It is believed that the outcome of the election will either ameliorate or worsen the country’s security situation.
