An global rights organization has told CNN that dozens of people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo as political turmoil roils the Central African country.
Advertisement
However the electoral commission has failed to call the election, citing lack of funds and insufficient time to update the voting register.
There were attacks on the headquarters of five opposition political parties in Congo late Monday, and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement that riots erupted early Tuesday, with shots fired.
“It is hard to say who killed whom”, he said.
Katumbi, who put the number of dead at more than 50, denies the corruption charges, and said that African Union mediator Edem Kodjo, a former Togolese premier appointed to arbitrate between the government and opposition, should be replaced because he is biased toward Kinshasa.
But Omalanga dismissed calls from the opposition for Kabila to resign then, saying, “President Kabila will step down only when a new president is elected”.
A process called by the government to resolve the impasse, known as the National Dialogue, has been rejected by opposition groups who say it is a ploy to extend Kabila’s stay in power.
“I don’t think it is something credible”.
“It is our hope that a consensus can be reached soon to set a date for (the) elections”, Barnabe Kikaya said.
“Those who launched these so-called protests may be afraid of the outcome of any election that may be held”, Omalanga said, adding that the situation was now calm in Kinshasa.
Amnesty International’s Country Campaigner for the DRC Christian Rumu warns that confronting people exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly with excessive force fans the flames of unrest.
“The government can only condemn this mob justice mentality”, he said.
“The timetable must be made available as swiftly as possible and the elections held with as little delay as possible”, the French Foreign Ministry said.
Advertisement
Kabila was catapulted into power as a young soldier by Kinshasa politicians, a day after his father was assassinated in 2001.
