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🇨🇩 DR Congo /Culture & Society

University students demand action on deadly Kinshasa-Matadi highway

From Radio Okapi · () French

Translated from French, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Official statement Ongoing story
  • Students from the University of Kongo are demanding urgent safety measures on the Kinshasa-Matadi highway after two classmates died in a recent accident.
  • They organized a march and submitted a memorandum listing demands, including improved campus safety, a secondary road, student buses, and traffic calming measures.
  • Local authorities acknowledge the demands but cite a lack of funds, promising to forward the request to provincial officials.

Students at the University of Kongo are calling for immediate action to improve safety on National Road No. 1 (RN1) between Kinshasa and Matadi. Their protest follows the tragic deaths of two fellow students in a road accident on June 13. Demonstrating their outrage and demanding concrete measures, the students marched on Thursday, June 18, delivering a memorandum to the deputy administrator of the Mbanza-Ngungu territory.

The students chanted protest songs as they marched to the administrative office. Their demands include urgent measures to enhance security around the University of Kongo campus. They also called for the opening of a secondary route via Nsona Nkulu, the introduction of student buses, and the installation of speed bumps and road signs along the RN1. The university's rector had previously flagged the RN1 in Luvaka as a "black spot" due to insufficient signage and lack of speed deterrents.

The territory does not have the necessary financial means to carry out these works.

— Salomon MundekokoThe deputy administrator of Mbanza-Ngungu territory acknowledging the students' demands but citing financial limitations.

Salomon Mundekoko, the deputy administrator of Mbanza-Ngungu territory, recognized the validity of the students' claims. However, he stated that the territory lacks the necessary financial resources to implement these works. Mundekoko assured the students that their concerns would be forwarded to the provincial authorities. This mobilization highlights the ongoing issue of fatal accidents on this busy road, with the students reacting particularly to the recent deaths of their peers.

black spot

— Germain Kuna MabaThe rector of the University of Kongo describing the dangerous section of the RN1 in Luvaka due to lack of safety features.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Radio Okapi in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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