The United States has placed travel ban on some top government officials of the Democratic Republic of the Congo over their roles in alleged electoral fraud in the December 2018 general election in the country.
The U.S. Department of State said in a statement that the United States stands with the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.) following the country’s historic transfer of power.
The affected officials incude: Corneille Nangaa, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (D.R.C.) National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI); Norbert Ba-sen-gezi Ka-tin-tima, Vice President of CENI; Mr. Marcellin Mukolo Ba-sen-gezi, Advisor to the President of CENI; Mr. Aubin Minaku Ndja-land-joko, President of the D.R.C.’s National Assembly; and Mr. Benoit Lwamba Bindu, President of the D.R.C.’s Constitutional Court.
CENI had announced on the 10th of January that opposition leader Felix Tshi-sekedi had provisionally won with 38.57 per cent of the vote against closest rival Martin Fayulu’s 34.8 per cent.
However, Fayulu, who had previously described the outcome as an “electoral coup” forged by Tshi-sekedi and long-term leader, former President Joseph Kabila, immediately called on the international community to reject the results