Kalemie – 5th October 2017 – After donating 83 road signs to Kalemie officials and Congolese National Police, the Mission organized a series of awareness sessions on the road signs for the different categories of roads users. The awareness firstly targets the road traffic regulating police, then the motorbikes drivers.

The 83 roads signs received in Kalemie through MONUSCO quick impact project have already been installed in the different roads sections of the city: Kisebwe round-point, the road leading to Kahinda airport and some avenues.  “The roads signs are visible at different sites but roads users are not yet familiar with them,” highlighted a bike rider. So, MONUSCO Police (UNPOL) decided to proceed with the awareness sessions for the populations to be more familiar with.

The city of Kalemie has over three thousand active motorbikes riders daily, not to mention the vehicles drivers, the pedestrians and others, hence the importance for the project aimed to “make the provincial roads more expressive,” said the provincial Minister for Infrastructures and transports, Elie Abuka Mayani who declared: “it is Government’s concern that roads be expressive through roads signs to prevent regrettable cases of deaths caused by road accident.”

For the provincial Minister of Home Affairs, the change of behavior must be visible among the roads users and the road traffic regulating Police.  The Provincial Minister Joseph Kiluba said: “we are not expecting an overnight change of behavior among all the road users and pedestrians at once but this must happen.”

The roads signs supply is a project initiated by MONUSCO Police and funded by the Mission’s quick impact project to the tune of US$ 25,000 with a view to reducing roads accidents in the city of Kalemie.

Amuri Aleka/Kalemie