Congo talks delayed amid deadly protest

TALKS to end DR Congo’s dangerous political crisis were suspended on Saturday until after Christmas after a fruitless 48 hours of negotiations over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to quit power.

Kabila’s second and final five-year term ended on December 20, but he has shown no intention of leaving office soon, sparking violent protests that have left at least 40 people dead, according to the United Nations.

The informal talks, mediated by the influential Catholic Church since December 8, are now expected to resume after a Christmas break with hopes of a deal by December 30.

“We think that Friday will be the day . . . during which an agreement will be adopted and signed,” said Marcel Utembi, president of the Congo National Episcopal Conference (CENCO), who had pushed for a deal before Christmas.

The talks between the government and opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo had raised hopes this week of an imminent deal, with a draft seen by AFP outlining plans for fresh elections at the end of next year, when Kabila would step down.

But that optimism has been slipping, and negotiators from the two camps left church offices in Kinshasa just before 5:30am (0430 GMT) without a deal to prevent a fresh descent into conflict in a country that has suffered two horrific wars since 1996.

After an all-night discussion “we reached the end of the tunnel,” said Utembi, the archbishop of Kinshasa, who also stressed that “95 percent of the differences over the management of the transitional period have been ironed out”. But others indicated there was still a long way to go.

“Everything is still blocked on how [public affairs] will be managed during the transition period,” said opposition delegate Francois Muamba.

A frustrated CENCO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, had blasted DR Congo’s political class for “serious mediocrity” in their inability to reach a deal during the marathon talks.

“They have called into question everything we arranged the day before,” the official said.

Tensions are running high, with security forces spraying live ammunition at a string of anti-Kabila protests in Kinshasa and other towns this week, killing at least 40 civilians, according to the UN. Congolese police put the toll at 20 dead, saying they had largely been killed in “looting” or by “stray bullets”.

Other sources say somewhere between 56 and 125 people have been killed in a week of clashes.