11 killed in deadly clashes in DR Congo

At least 11 people died as gunfire erupted during protests in Democratic Republic of Congo against longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is refusing to leave office as his mandate ends. 

Shots rang out in the capital Kinshasa, where at least nine people were killed, and there was sustained gunfire in the country's second-largest city, Lubumbashi, where two died including a policeman who was lynched by an angry crowd.

The UN's large Democratic Republic Congo mission, MONUSCO, said it was



probing reliable reports of dozens of deaths and voiced alarm over the arrests of 113 opposition leaders and civil society activists in just four days.

Tension has been mounting for months in Congo ahead of the December 20 deadline for Kabila's second and final term in office to end.

With no election planned and no sign of him stepping down, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi issued a plea to the country's 70 million people to peacefully resist and reject the Kabila regime.