Trade between the Djegu trading hub in Mahagi territory, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province, and the Ugandan town of Parombo has been disrupted after a bridge over the Acodho River collapsed following heavy rains.

The bridge gave way overnight between May 11 and 12, cutting off road access between this part of northeastern DR Congo and neighboring Uganda, according to Radio Okapi and several local media outlets.

The structure was a key crossing for residents and cross-border traders, and its collapse has disrupted goods flows along the route linking Mahagi to Parombo, an area heavily reliant on road transport for trade and supplies.

The incident comes as Kinshasa and Kampala recently concluded the ninth session of their Joint Permanent Commission in Kampala, where discussions included infrastructure cooperation and regional connectivity.

Since 2021, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have been working on several cross-border road projects, including the paving of the Kasindi-Beni, Beni-Butembo and Bunagana-Rutshuru-Goma corridors, covering about 223 km of roads in North Kivu province.

While those projects concern other border routes, the collapse of the Acodho bridge highlights the continued vulnerability of local infrastructure in eastern DR Congo, where much of the cross-border trade still depends on bridges and roads exposed to heavy rains and flooding.

Boaz Kabeya