Bangui closes border with Congo

The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) has closed its border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), halting transportation of goods and people across the River Oubangui, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Thursday. The Oubangui forms a border between the two countries for at least 1,500 km. Quoting an inter-ministerial decision signed on Thursday by the ministers Col Paulin Bondeboli of public security; Marcel Malonga of territorial administration; Sonny Pokomandji of transport; and the secretary of state for defence, Col Jules Wande, the radio said traffic was suspended across the river between the CAR capital, Bangui and the northwestern Congolese town of Zongo. The radio did not give a reason for the border closure. However, it comes days after another inter-ministerial decree prohibiting the importation, sale and use of mobile phones supplied by a DRC-based telecommunication operator. Trade has flowed across both banks of the Oubangui for decades, with the DRC supplying its neighbour with food and the CAR sending manufactured goods to the DRC. The government has ordered the police, the gendarmerie and an amphibious unit to implement its decision immediately. While this might be an easy task in major cities, it could prove to be more difficult in rural areas where populations on both banks of the river belong to the same ethnic groups. If the border closure were prolonged, Bangui markets would face shortages of palm oil, banana, cassava leaves and other agricultural products as well as charcoal that are supplied from Zongo.