KINSHASA. — Talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo between President Joseph Kabila’s party and the opposition are on hold after they failed to reach an agreement before the date President Kabila was originally supposed to step down from power, mediators said on Saturday.
President Kabila’s original mandate ends today, and many fear widespread unrest if he stays in office unless some kind of political compromise is reached.
Anti-government demonstrations are expected today and tomorrow.
Police and military forces were already patrolling, searching cars and setting up checkpoints on Saturday in Kinshasa, the capital. Authorities planned to cut off access to social media yesterday for an undetermined period of time.
The national election once set for November in this Central African nation has been delayed indefinitely, allowing the president to remain in power until a vote is held.
Congolese authorities say that updating the voters’ register will take at least until July 2017 and budgetary constraints may delay the election even further.
Catholic church officials who have been mediating the talks announced on Saturday evening that the negotiations won’t resume until Wednesday, raising fears of potential violence in the sprawling nation that has suffered decades of dictatorship and back-to-back civil wars.
“Given the breadth of the topics, participants came to the conclusion that these questions should not be dealt with hastily,” Monsignor Marcel Utembi said in a statement on Saturday, adding that several church officials are now headed to Rome for a few days.
“Meanwhile, we ask everyone to pray for our country,” he added.
Opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi said he and his supporters maintain that a new election “must be held and can be held in 2017,” despite calls from the presidential majority to hold them in April 2018.
Opposition parties also want political prisoners released and for the case to be dropped against opposition politician Moise Katumbi, who left the country after prosecutors said they would charge him with hiring mercenaries for his protection.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said on Saturday that concerns about unrest are high, especially since “no one to date has been held accountable” for the protesters’ deaths in September.
“We call on the government, and especially its security forces, to take all necessary measures to guarantee the rights to freedom of association and of peaceful assembly,” he said.
President Kabila came to power in 2001 after the assassination of his father.
— AP.