‘Terrorists’ threat’: U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa shut for day four

The U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa remained closed for a fourth day on Thursday, after the U.S. warned of a “possible terrorist threat’’ against its facilities in Congo.

“U.S. citizens in Kinshasa and throughout the DRC are strongly encouraged to maintain a heightened level of vigilance and practise good situational awareness,” the embassy said.

It first closed on Monday.

While multiple militia groups are fighting in Congo, along ethnic lines or over the country’s mineral wealth – with foreign aid workers occasionally caught up in the conflict.

It is unusual that the U.S. should come under specific threat.

The embassy has given no further details on what the threat might entail or who they suspect of being behind it.

On Monday, after the embassy first closed and warned U.S. nationals to keep a low profile, Congolese authorities described its reaction as “useless psychosis’’.

After two years of setbacks, broken promises and delays, the DR Congo last week kicked off the campaign for a crucial election that could alleviate – or perhaps worsen – the decades-long crisis.

Voters on Dec. 23 will choose a successor to outgoing President Joseph Kabila, who has constitutionally remained in power as caretaker leader even though his second and final elected term ended nearly two years ago.

At stake in the vote is the political future of a mineral-rich country that has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

Eastern DR Congo is ravaged by decades of inter-ethnic bloodshed and militia violence, as well as a deadly Ebola outbreak, testing a large UN peacekeeping mission deployed in the country.

The U.S. has called on the African nation to seize its “historic opportunity’’to hold a “credible election’’ that could ease its humanitarian problems and boost stability.