Kabila threatens to punish anti-government rioters

KINSHASA: Congo’s government vowed yesterday to hunt down and punish those responsible for riots in which about three dozen people were killed, as small pockets of protest continued in the capital, Kinshasa.

Anti-government protesters gathered in parts of Kinshasa yesterday, but normal life resumed in most of the capital after two days of deadly riots, residents and witnesses said. The army was dispatched to parts of the city where tensions persisted.

“The Congolese national police are actively seeking out the… authors of these grave acts of murder and plunder,” Attorney-General Flory Ka- bange Numbi told reporters in Kinshasa. He also said migration officials would prevent those responsible from leaving the country.

Congo has for months suffered simmering anger over what opponents of President Joseph Kabila believe are his efforts to hold on to power beyond his constitutional term limit, either by delaying elections or revising the constitution, as other African leaders have done.

The protests on Monday escalated into violent clashes between demonstrators and police, leaving at least 37 protesters and six policemen dead, Human Rights Watch said. The official death toll given by the police yesterday was 32, of whom four were police officers.

However, Etienne Tshisekedi, among Congo’s main opposition leaders, told Belgian television that about 100 people had died.

The office of Kabila, who has been abroad during the unrest attending the UN General Assembly in New York, yesterday condemned the violence and offered its condolences to victims’ families.

Kabila is ineligible to stand in the next election after serving two terms. Last week, the election commission petitioned the Constitutional Court to postpone the November poll.

His supporters deny he is trying to prolong his rule.

World powers have become increasingly exasperated with Kabila’s administration. French President Francois Hollande has blamed the state for the violence and called upon the government to respect the constitution.

The UN Security Council yesterday called on Congolese authorities to exercise maximum restraint and urged the country’s leaders not to exacerbate the situation while exiled opposition leader, Moise Katumbi, urged new sanctions against security officials responsible for the deaths of protesters this week. – Reuters