Police officers in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday fired shots and tear gas to disperse protesters who were demonstrating after Catholic bishops withdrew from mediating in peace talks.
Demonstrators burned tyres at Kinshasa city intersections with shops closing and some schools asking parents to come for their children.
An official with the conference of Catholic bishops confirmed the body’s withdrawal.
“We think that there’s no longer anything to do,” Donatien Nshole, secretary general of the conference known as CENCO, told Reuters.
“We have given all our time and all our energy and in the meantime pastoral work suffers” he added.
Last week a top official of DRC’s main opposition party exited the talks. Jean -Marc Kabund the secretary general of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), termed the dialogue as ‘a big joke’.
Jean-Marc said that the presidential majority is showing bad faith and has created stumbling blocks to delay the implementation of a power-sharing deal agreed on new years’ eve.
Reacting to CENCO’s decision, the opposition vowed to hold a nationwide protest on April 10.
In a statement the UDPS, the main party in the opposition coalition called “on the Congolese people to mobilise themselves for a big peaceful march throughout the republic and the diaspora (abroad)”.
President Joseph Kabila is expected to step down after elections which must be held before the end of this year per an agreement.
Source: Africafeeds.com
