Demonstrators point to a broken billboard showing the face of Congolese President Joseph Kabila during an opposition rally in Kinshasa on September 19, 2016. By Eduardo Soteras (AFP)

Kinshasa (AFP) - More than 50 people were killed in clashes between protesters and security forces in the capital of the DR Congo on Monday, opposition groups said in a statement which also called for further demonstrations.

The government had earlier said that at least 17 had died in the violence in Kinshasa, but had warned that the death toll could rise. </s> A man screams as people gather to protest in the neighbourhood of Yolo in Kinshasa on December 20, 2016. By Eduardo Soteras (AFP)

Kinshasa (AFP) - At least 11 people were killed in DR Congo on Tuesday as clashes erupted during protests against President Joseph Kabila who is refusing to leave office as his mandate ends, officials said.

Nine people died in Kinshasa during protests to demand that Kabila step down, a government spokesman said, while a protester and a policeman were killed in the second city Lubumbashi according the region's governor.

"In Kinshasa there were nine dead, not a single one more," said Lambert Mende, the government's chief spokesman.

The UN's mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, had earlier said it was probing reliable reports that around 20 people had been killed in the country's capital during protests.

Governor Jean-Claude Kazembe said that along with the two fatalities in Lubumbashi, three people had been hurt in clashes.

Kabila appears determined to cling on to power, and tensions in DR Congo have been running high, with police massing in the cities and many people staying home to avoid violence. </s> At least 44 people were killed in protests against Congolese President Joseph Kabila, including 37 killed by security forces and six police officers killed by demonstrators.

The protests in the Democratic Republic of Congo started on Monday after the election commission decided to try to postpone the next presidential vote, due in November.

Kabila's opponents say the proposed delay is a manoeuvre to keep the president in power although ruling party politicians deny this. Kabila is barred constitutionally from running for a third term and his allies say he will respect the constitution.

With the unrest forcing schools to close and halting public transport in the sprawling riverside capital, the United Nations expressed fears the situation could worsen.

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Overnight, several people were killed when security forces burned down the headquarters of the main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), and attacked buildings of other opposition parties, HRW Africa researcher for the New York-based group, Ida Sawyer, said.

17 people had been killed overnight and on Tuesday, while 20 had been killed on Monday, she said.

"Most were killed when security forces fired on crowds of protesters," she said.

"We've also received credible reports that protesters have killed at least six police officers and a [ruling party] PPRD supporter and they have also burned and looted several shops and police stations," Sawyer said.

The fire - a criminal act - started between 2am and 4am on Monday (1200-1300 NZ time), said opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi, a UDPS official and son of veteran opposition figure Etienne Tshisekedi, who lost to Kabila in a 2011 presidential run-off after five decades of active involvement in Congolese politics.

Congo has not had a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

"We have on our hands seven dead and two people who were amputated: one at the arm and another at the leg, in the fire at our headquarters in Limete. There are also multiple people wounded at the hospital," Felix Tshisekedi told Reuters.

Tshisekedi, who has called for further protests, said: "We won't live with this barbarity. The people are angry." Witnesses said calm has returned to central Kinshasa by Tuesday afternoon, though there were reports of clashes in the suburbs.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende condemned the attack on the UDPS but denied security forces were involved.

Interior ministry spokesman Claude Pero Luwara told Reuters the death toll stood at 17 and said Human Rights Watch's statement was a "typical" exaggeration by the group. The ministry had earlier said three of those killed were policemen.

Kabila took power in 2001 when his father was assassinated but must step down in December.

His opponents fear he may follow the example of leaders in other African countries such as Burundi and Rwanda and change the constitution to extend his rule.

Tom Perriello, U.S. Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, said Washington would hold all sides accountable for their actions during the latest violence and that the government could easily have taken steps to defuse tension.

"Unfortunately, the pattern over the last year has been to dramatically reduce that open political space ... We have seen a crackdown on the rights and freedoms of Congolese people," he told a news conference in New York.

"We remain ready to impose additional targeted sanctions on individuals who have been involved in abuses or violence," said Perriello, who was verbally harassed and obstructed at Kinshasa airport as he left on Sunday.

Adding to the mix of disapproval, Congo's powerful Catholic church temporarily suspend its participation in talks between the government, some opposition parties and civil society groups over the election timetable, local media said.

Nearly 200 people were believed to have been arrested on Monday and the UN received reports of excessive use of force by security forces, UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.

Congo is Africa's top copper producer but many Congolese people have yet to benefit from the country's mineral wealth. </s> Congolese protesters scatter as South African police open fire with rubber bullets whilst they protest outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo's embassy in defiance of their President, Joseph Kabila on December 20, 2016 in Pretoria. AFP PHOTO

At least 11 people were killed in DR Congo on Tuesday as clashes erupted during protests against President Joseph Kabila who is refusing to leave office as his mandate ends, officials said.

Nine people died in Kinshasa during protests to demand that President Kabila step down, a government spokesman said, while a protester and a policeman were killed in the second city Lubumbashi according the region's governor.

"In Kinshasa there were nine dead, not a single one more," said Mr Lambert Mende, the government's chief spokesman.

The UN's mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, had earlier said it was probing reliable reports that around 20 people had been killed in the country's capital during protests.

Governor Jean-Claude Kazembe said that along with the two fatalities in Lubumbashi, three people had been hurt in clashes.

President Kabila appears determined to cling on to power, and tensions in DR Congo have been running high, with police massing in the cities and many people staying home to avoid violence. </s> KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The United Nations says at least two people have been killed after attacks on the headquarters of five opposition political parties in Congo late Monday.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights statement also says riots erupted early Tuesday, with shots fired.

Congo's government has said at least 17 were killed Monday in clashes between security forces and demonstrators opposed to President Joseph Kabila. The U.N. says about 200 have been arrested.

People stand near burning debris during election protests in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo)

Congo has seen rising tensions as Kabila is expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. The electoral commission says November's scheduled presidential vote won't be possible.

A court has determined Kabila can stay in power until another vote is organized.

The U.N. notes reports of "excessive use of force" by security forces and demonstrators. </s> Organizers of anti-government marches in Congo say security forces shot dead at least four people and wounded dozens more in Sunday’s nationwide protest against President Joseph Kabila’s extended rule.

The Lay Coordination Committee on Monday announced that people were killed in Kinshasa, Mbandaka and Kisangani. Church organizations have been staging demonstrations against long-delayed elections, and the international community has criticized Congolese security forces for violent crackdowns on the protests.

Kabila was meant to leave office in December 2016 but elections have been repeatedly postponed. Congo’s government now says the vote will be in December.

The United Nations mission in Congo says 47 people were wounded in Sunday’s protests and more than 100 were arrested. It calls on Congolese authorities to carry out credible investigations. </s> At least five people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the UN, as authorities cracked down on banned protests against President Joseph Kabila.

Witnesses told news agencies that security forces on Sunday fired live rounds and tear gas in the capital, Kinshasa, to disperse demonstrators demanding an end to Kabila’s 17-year rule.

The Catholic church had called for rallies around the country, despite a government ban on all demonstrations since September 2016, when anti-Kabila protests turned violent.

MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping mission, said at least five people were killed on Sunday in Kinshasa and 33 others injured nationwide. Dozens of people were also reportedly arrested.

“I marched today for a simple reason: I want to bring up my children in a country that respects human rights,” protester Pascal Kabeya, a 40-year-old market trader, told Reuters news agency where a few hundred had gathered in a suburb of Kinshasa.

A 16-year-old girl died after shots were fired from an armoured vehicle at the entrance to a church in the Kitambo area of the capital, Jean-Baptise Sondji, a former minister and government opponent, told AFP news agency.

A Reuters witness saw police and paramilitaries fire volleys of tear gas and shoot into the air outside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Kinshasa. At least six people were lightly wounded when they were struck by flying tear gas canisters, he told Reuters.

The latest round of anti-government protests on December 31, 2017 turned deadly, with protest organisers saying a dozen people were killed after taking to the streets to demand that Kabila step down.

“A lot of people are very frustrated with the political situation in the country and they’re looking more to the church for guidance and leadership,” Al Jazeera correspondent Catherine Soi said.

In office since 2001, Kabila’s constitutional term ended in December 2016, but he stayed on.

Under an agreement brokered by the Catholic Church, he was allowed to stay in office, provided new elections were held in 2017.

“That did not happen, the deal has expired, that’s why the Catholic Church leadership is so angry,” Soi said.

“[Catholic Church leadership are] saying they’re going to continue calling on their faithful to come out in peaceful protests, demanding for electoral justice, demanding for politicians to respect the constitution and also for president Joseph Kabila to peacefully step down.”

DRC authorities have said a vote would be held on December 23, 2018. But analysts, as well as Kabila’s opponents, accuse him of wanting to stay in power.

Michael Tshibangu, a UK-based political analyst and president of the Association for Development and Democracy in Congo, said in early January the swift and forceful repression of December’s protests showed “how determined [Kabila] is to stay in power.

“Everything we’re seeing today shows that the DRC is going backwards. Kabila is in the process of establishing a dictatorship,” Tshibangu told Al Jazeera.

The flare-up in violence has stoked fears that the vast, mineral-rich DRC could slide back into the wars that killed millions in the 1990s, mostly from hunger and disease. </s> The United Nations on Monday condemned Congolese security forces for killing at least 47 people, including women and children, in "unlawful and

 unjustified" crackdowns on protests during 2017 and early this

 year.

 

 Democratic Republic of Congo is facing growing public unrest since President Joseph Kabila refused to step down after his mandate expired at the end of December 2016, and after repeated delays to an election meant to replace him.

 

 Security forces shot dead at least six people and wounded dozens others during an anti-Kabila protest organized by the Catholic church in January this year. A similar incident in December 2017 left at least seven dead.

 

 A report U.N. Human Rights Office said that Congolese authorities used lethal force on protesters and attempted to cover up rights abuses by hiding dead bodies after protests calling for Kabila to arrange long delayed elections.

 

 "It is particularly disturbing that security services and defense forces carry out this violence with almost full impunity," said Special Representative of the U.N.

 Secretary-General in the DRC Leila Zerrougui in the report.

 

 Another two people were killed by security forces during church-led demonstrations against the government last month.

 

 Kabila has denied accusations of excessive force, rejecting charges against his security forces during a press conference in January.

 

 The opposition accuses him of pushing back the election date in order to cling to power. The polls, which were initially scheduled for November 2016, are now set to take place in December this year. But the electoral commission has since said they may not be possible until at least April 2019. </s> Demonstrators chant slogans during a protest against President Joseph Kabila, organized by the Catholic church in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo January 21, 2018. Photo: Reuters

Paris - France on Monday blamed Congolese security forces for the shooting dead of at least six people and wounding of dozens during a protest against President Joseph Kabila organised by the Catholic Church.

“France strongly condemns the violence perpetrated by the security forces during the demonstrations organised on Sunday,” a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.

Kabila’s refusal to step down at the end of his mandate in December 2016 has triggered a series of street protests in which scores have been killed in Kinshasa.

It has also emboldened armed rebel groups in different parts of the country.

In the statement, France called for the proportionate use of force in the maintenance of law and order.

The instability has stoked fears that the vast, mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo could slide back into the wars that killed millions in the 1990s, mostly from hunger and disease.

UN mission in the Congo said six people were killed during the protests, 73 wounded and 115 people arrested.

Congolese police said that two people had been killed and a number of police officers wounded.

There was a heavy police presence on the streets of the capital with security forces firing teargas at demonstrators after the protest was banned by the authorities and the government blocked access to the internet.

The central African country’s powerful Catholic Church was instrumental in organising the protests and has been a voice of opposition to Kabila.

Several people were also killed in New Year’s Eve protests organised by the church.

Kabila has promised to hold elections in December.
The United Nations reports that from January 2017 to January 2018 a total of 47 people were killed in protests against Congolese President Joseph Kabila.