The mood is tense in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, following a day and night of deadly violence involving security forces and anti-government protesters.
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At least two of them were burnt, he said, and five civilians also died.
The UN condemned the protest in a statement: “The secretary-general expresses his deep concern about the violent clashes between protestors and security forces in Kinshasa, and several other locations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo”.
Opposition supporters have accused the sitting president of wanting to extend his rule by not holding elections originally scheduled for November as required by the constitution. His supporters deny the charge. The electoral commission said it can not formalize the voter list before July 2017, despite a constitutional provision that the date must be set three months before Kabila’s term ends in December, according to the Associated Press.
At least two people were killed after attacks on the headquarters of five opposition parties late Monday, the United Nations and an opposition party said.
There were sporadic clashes between police and groups of young men early Tuesday in some parts of the capital. Interior Minister Evariste Boshab confirmed that three police officers were among the dead, including one who was burned alive. Witnesses said police fired live ammunition into a crowd of protesters after they threw stones.
Fire was still raging at the UDPS building where a tearful woman in her 40s said that her husband had been there when unidentified assailants attacked the building.
The protests came after Congo’s largest opposition parties rejected a proposal that Kabila remain in power until elections are held.
He said the government will wait for the prosecutor to finish the inquiry into who is responsible for the violence. Kabila, in power since 2001, won elections in 2006 and 2011 but is prevented from running for a third term by the constitution.
The US embassy said on its Twitter feed that it was “outraged” by the “harassment” of its special envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Thomas Perriello, at Kinshasa’s airport.
“Today’s march shows that the security forces have not switched their tactics and are still clamping down on anyone opposed to Kabila”, said Ida Sawyer, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The central African nation hasn’t had a peaceful transition of power since gaining independence in 1960.
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The United States said Kabila’s government should have taken steps to defuse the violence and that it was prepared to impose sanctions targeting individuals involved in abuses.
