KInshasa - Security forces shot dead
several protesters who had gathered in the streets of Kinshasa
on Tuesday to demand that Democratic Republic of Congo President
Joseph Kabila step down after his mandate expired overnight.
Scattered protests started on Tuesday, and opposition leader
Etienne Tshisekedi called on the Congolese people to peacefully
resist Kabila, who has remained in power beyond his
constitutional mandate with no election to pick a successor.
Gunfire crackled in several districts of the capital
Kinshasa, a city of 12 million, as measures to thwart dissent
raised fears of bloody repression.
"On the issue of deaths, it looks bad," the U.N. human
rights director for Congo, Jose Maria Aranaz, told Reuters by
telephone. "We are reviewing allegations of up to 20 civilians
killed, but it (the information) is pretty solid."
At least two civilians were killed overnight when soldiers
opened fire during clashes in the neighbourhood of Kingabwa, two
witnesses said. The government spokesman could not be reached
for comment and a police spokesman said he did not have
information.
With a ban on demonstrations in force, and a heavy military
presence, Kinshasa's normally busy main boulevards were for the
most part deserted as pockets of youths gathered in sidestreets
only to be dispersed by the volleys of teargas.
U.N. peacekeepers in armoured personnel carriers patrolled
the streets, at one point cheered on by a crowd shouting:
"Kabila, know that your mandate is finished!"
"I think there will be trouble. The people are saying Kabila
has to leave," said student Joe Doublier, 20, peering nervously
out of his house in the opposition stronghold of Limete, where
youths burned tyres and pieces of wood in the streets.
"It's been 16 years and nothing has changed," he said,
referring to the time Kabila has been in power since his father
was assassinated in 2001.
In Lubumbashi, a city in the heart of Africa's richest
copper mining area, police and Kabila's elite military
Republican Guard fired live bullets to prevent demonstrations,
Gregoire Mulamba, a local human rights activist, told Reuters.
Local activist Jean-Pierre Muteba said there was one death,
a 14-year-old boy shot by police. A police spokesman said he did
not have enough information to comment.
The mayor of Lubumbashi, Jean Oscar Sanguza, told Reuters
security forces had intervened to stop looters, and denied
reports of deaths in the confrontations.
In a video posted on YouTube, opposition leader Tshisekedi
said: "I launch a solemn appeal to the Congolese people to not
recognise the ... illegal and illegitimate authority of Joseph
Kabila and to peacefully resist (his) coup d'etat,"
Authorities have blocked most social media. Such restrictive
measures have raised fears of more violence in a nation that has
never had a peaceful transfer of power and has suffered
near-constant war and instability in the two decades since the
fall of kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko.
Western powers are nervous of a repeat of the conflicts
between 1996 to 2003 that killed millions, drew in half a dozen
neighbouring armies and saw rebel fighters rape women en masse.
The United States and European Union have called for Kabila
to respect the constitution. Congo's former colonial master
Belgium said on Tuesday it would "re-examine" relations with
Kabila after he failed to step down.
France urged the European Union re-examine its links with
Congo because of the "seriousness of the situation".
Kabila has rarely spoken about the issue in public, but his
allies say the election was delayed because of logistical and
financial problems. The constitutional court has ruled that
Kabila can stay on until the election takes place, and some
opposition leaders have agreed to this.
In what appeared to be an attempt at soothing opposition
grievances, Kabila's administration announced on state TV an
expansion of the government by about 20 ministerial posts to
more than 65, many of them reserved for opposition members.
But many opponents, especially in Kinshasa, are not buying
it. Demonstrators in the districts of Kalamu, Matete and
Lingwala as well as at Kinshasa University blew whistles around
midnight to signal to Kabila that it was time to leave.
Reuters witnesses saw more than a dozen young men who had
been arrested seated in the back of a military truck near the
university.
Scores of protesters have been arrested in the past 24
hours, mostly in the eastern city of Goma, according to human
rights groups.