Congolese soldiers fire in air to disperse election protesters

Soldiers and police in the Democratic Republic of Congo city of Beni fired in the air Thursday to disperse demonstrators who barricaded roads and burned tires to protest the decision to exclude them from a presidential election Sunday. 

The electoral commission (CENI) announced Wednesday that it was canceling the vote in Beni, its surrounding areas and the nearby city of Butembo because of an ongoing Ebola outbreak and militia violence.

Those places on the eastern DRC are strongholds of opposition to outgoing President Joseph Kabila and local politicians denounced the move as an effort to swing the vote in favor of his preferred candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.

The CENI also canceled the vote in the western city of Yumbi because of ethnic violence there last week that killed more than 100 people.

The election to replace Kabila, who has governed since replacing his assassinated father in 2001, was meant to take place in 2016 but has been repeatedly delayed.

That has triggered violent protests in which security forces killed dozens of people. It has also stoked militia violence in Congo's eastern borderlands with Rwanda and Uganda as armed groups moved to exploit a perceived power vacuum.

Shadary is facing two main challengers in a field of 21 candidates: Felix Tshisekedi, the president of Congo's largest opposition party, and Martin Fayulu, a former Exxon Mobil manager and national lawmaker.