Goma-Walikale road blockade drives up prices
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Actualité.cd
The National Resistance Front (FRN) closure of the road between Goma and Walikale, in North Kivu, has disrupted supplies to markets in Walikale-centre for more than a month. Shortages of products such as potatoes and tilapia are driving up prices, reports Actualite.cd, while traders and transporters are also feeling the effects of the blockade.
The closure of the road between Goma and Walikale in North Kivu has driven up prices of essential goods and disrupted market supplies for more than a month, reports Actualite.cd. The Revolutionary Front for the New (FRN) is blocking the route from Kashebere.
In Walikale-centre, residents report shortages of goods usually brought in from Goma, particularly potatoes and tilapia. Some traders who still have stocks are accused by consumers of raising their prices. John Muganguzi, territorial president of the Federation of Congolese Businesses in Walikale, says traders are drawing on their capital to keep operating and risk going bankrupt.
Transporters now have to take a longer route through South Kivu, including via Bukavu, Bulambika and Hombo. The closure comes amid clashes between the FRN and the Congolese armed forces, reported in Burubi and Muhanga on 30 October, as well as between the FRN and the Wazalendo in Burubi on the same day. The fighting is reported in articles on clashes between the FARDC and the FRN and fighting between the Wazalendo and the FRN.
