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U.S. to reopen Congo embassy after 'terrorist threat'
03/12/2018
KINSHASA (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said it will reopen its embassy in Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, more than a week after it closed because of a "terrorist threat".
The embassy and other facilities in the capital Kinshasa have been shut since Nov. 26 and U.S. citizens were advised to "keep a low profile".
U.S. officials have remained tight-lipped in public about the nature of the threat, but have informed foreign diplomats that the embassy closure is due to the arrest last month of a cell of Tanzanian jihadists from a Ugandan Islamist group called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), two diplomats told Reuters.
Congo is on edge ahead of a long delayed presidential election in December to find a successor to president Joseph Kabila who has publicly agreed to step down after holding on to power two years beyond his allotted mandate.
Congo’s foreign minister said in a news conference on Friday that the threat against U.S. government facilities was real and serious.
(Reporting by Giulia Paravicini; Editing by Edward McAllister)
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