Protests resume in DRC capital over changes to vote law

PROTESTS in the Democratic Republic of Congo over proposed changes to an electoral code that critics say may extend President Joseph Kabila’s 14-year rule continued for a second day as the United Nations said “several” people died. Two civilians and a police officer were killed Monday when security guards opened fire to stop crowds from looting shops in the capital, Kinshasa, and the protests “continued yesterday,” government spokesman Lambert Mende said by phone. Radio Okapi, a Kinshasa-based broadcaster, cited Mende as putting the death toll at four. Many stores in the city were closed and public transport operated at reduced levels.

“Preliminary reports put the estimated toll at several dead and injured among both the demonstrators and the law enforcement officers” after clashes in four Kinshasa neighbourhoods, UN peacekeeping mission head Martin Kobler said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Kabila, who came to power after his father Laurent was killed in 2001, was first elected in 2006 and again in a disputed election in 2011. The constitution bars him from running for a third term.

Protesters, who surrounded parliament on Monday, are seeking to prevent the Senate from voting on the law, which includes requiring the world’s largest producer of cobalt to conduct its first census in about three decades before the next national elections. Opposition parties say that may delay the vote and leave Kabila in power.

Demonstrations also took place on Monday in the towns of Goma in North Kivu province and Bukavu in South Kivu province, both in eastern Congo, according to the UN.

Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders called for calm and restraint, according to a statement issued by the government of Congo’s former colonial ruler. He “expressed concern about a possible shift in the electoral calendar as a consequence of the plan to conduct a census prior to holding the legislative and presidential elections.”

Belgian support for the electoral process depends on the provision of a clear timetable consistent with the constitution and a budget, he said. — Bloomberg.