Witnesses told Reuters earlier that at least two people were killed when armed men in uniform set fire to the opposition headquarters.
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The opposition coalition known as the Rassemblement, or the Assembly, had organized a march Monday to demand that President Joseph Kabila step down in December when his second term ends.
His opponents fear he may follow the example of leaders in other African countries such as Burundi, Congo Republic and Rwanda and change the constitution to extend his rule. In June, a Senate subcommittee passed a resolution urging Kabila’s government to “comply with constitutional limits on presidential terms”, but so far no sanctions have been imposed.
“What matters is the date of elections”, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters in NY on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Then, on Sunday, Tom Perriello, the USA special envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa, was “verbally attacked” at an airport in Congo’s capital city of Kinshasa by a member of Kabila’s ruling party.
There were sporadic clashes between police and groups of young men early Tuesday in some parts of the capital.
The country’s electoral commission was to announce a date for presidential elections on Monday but said it would not be able to hold the poll in November.
“We have received reports of excessive use of force by some elements of the security forces as well as reports that some demonstrators resorted to violence yesterday”.
Congo, Africa’s biggest copper producer and a source of other key minerals including cobalt and tantalum, has never had a peaceful transition of power. The Congolese president has ruled since 2001 when his father Laurent was assassinated.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the European Union and its member states, the United States, and the United Nations should implement targeted sanctions, including travel bans and assets freezes, against those most responsible for the violent repression and serious human rights violations against dissident voices over the past two years.
A smaller Congolese opposition group has been meeting with the government in an attempt to organize a schedule for elections, but the main opposition has refused to participate in the talks.
Interior Ministry spokesman Claude Pero Luwara said on Monday three of those killed were police officers.
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In a further sign of growing tensions between Washington and Kinshasa, 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.
