DR Congo: Tshisekedi calls for peaceful resistance against Kabila

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s opposition chief, Etienne Tshisekedi has called on the Congolese people to peacefully resist President Joseph Kabila after Kabila stayed in power on Tuesday despite the expiration of his constitutional mandate.

“I am solemnly appealing to all Congolese not to recognise the illegal authority and the illegitimate Joseph Kabila by peacefully resisting a coup d’etat as this has been achieved through the help of the constitutional court,” said Tshisekedi.

Earlier on Tuesday, gunfire were heard in several districts of Kinshasa as demonstrators demanded that Kabila step down after his mandate expired at midnight, and measures to curb dissent fanned fears of more violence.

Kabila faces potentially one of his biggest challenges since he took power after his father was assassinated in 2001.

Critics accuse him of clinging to power by letting his term run out with no election to name his successor expected until 2018.