KINSHASA, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016(CISA) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Congolese national security forces to exercise maximum restraint in their response to protests.
“(Ban) condemns the violence that has already led to the death of at least 17 people, including three police officers in the capital,” Reuters quoted his spokesman as saying Monday, after deadly anti-government demonstrations against President Joseph Kabila.
Police and protesters clashed on September 19, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which left at least 17 people dead, the UN mission to the country said.
Three police officers were among those killed in the fighting, which took place in the capital, Kinshasa, and elsewhere, according to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Citizens took to the street to protest the national electoral commission failure to announce a timetable for the presidential election to take place in November.
Opposition leader Martin Fayulu had called on the government to abide by the constitution and for current President Joseph Kabila to step down on December 19.
President Kabila succeeded power from his father, Laurent Kabila, in 2001 after he was assassinated. The central African nation hasn’t had a peaceful transition of power since gaining independence in 1960.
