DR Congo is hiding protest death toll, says human rights group

Human Rights Watch has contradicted official figures released by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), saying at least forty people died in protests against the president this week. The protests began after an attempt to move the scheduled 2016 election to make time for a census. Many saw the move as a ploy by President Joseph Kabila to stay in power.

Congolese security forces have fired into crowds of demonstrators with deadly results. Human Rights Watch documented a number of instances in which police or Republican Guard soldiers took away the bodies of those shot in an apparent attempt to remove evidence of the killings.

Ida Sawyer, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch

The contested bill was passed by the country’s lower house of parliament a week ago, but after the days of deadly protests, the Senate on Friday backed down and voted unanimously to amend the legislation. The election will now go ahead in 2016, they say.

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