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Two killed as hundreds riot in Congo mining town
Tue May 17, 2005 6:44 PM GMT+02:00

By David Lewis

KINSHASA (Reuters) - At least two people were killed when hundreds of opposition supporters rioted in a southern mining town in Congo on Tuesday during a protest against plans to delay long-awaited elections, residents and authorities said.

Protesters hurled rocks at police, set up barricades and burned down the offices of two political parties in Mbuji Mayi, some 900 km (560 miles) southeast of the capital Kinshasa.

Residents and police sources said security forces opened fire on the protesters.

"Two demonstrators were killed and another five were injured but it also seems a policeman may have been burned alive," Provincial Governor Dominique Kanku told Reuters by phone from Mbuji Mayi. He did not say how the demonstrators were killed.

At least five people were injured before the army quelled the disturbances, which underscore mounting frustration in the vast central African country over plans to delay the first democratic polls in more than four decades.

Resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo was crippled by a five-year war that claimed around 4 million lives, mainly from conflict-related hunger and disease.

The war ended in 2003 but many of Congo's 60 million people are increasingly disillusioned as two years of relative peace have failed to bring presidential polls or economic progress.

"The (opposition) UDPS supporters went out into the streets at four this morning and set up barricades, burned tyres, started throwing stones and attacked three parties' headquarters," Kanku said.

The presidential polls were set for June but government wrangling, legislative delays and logistical hitches in a country the size of Western Europe have meant voting will be postponed. No new date has been set yet.

MORE PROTESTS POSSIBLE

Residents and police sources in Mbuji Mayi, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of people to mine for diamonds but lacks many basic services, said police opened fire on crowds of opposition supporters roaming around town.

"The army was later deployed, the shooting has stopped and things have calmed down but transport has been paralysed and only military vehicles are moving around now," a resident said.

When a potential election delay was first mooted in January this year, riots erupted in Kinshasa among people weary of war and suspicious of politicians who many believe are dragging their heels on the vote to protect their own interests.

The UDPS, a long-time opposition party that has refused to join the transitional government, says failure to meet the original June deadline for polls -- a key part of a 2003 peace deal -- means changes in the governing team are needed.

The UDPS has also called for demonstrations on Wednesday in Kinshasa, where the party has a strong support base.

This week, Congo's parliament is due to debate a request by the head of the electoral commission to delay the vote, something still permissible under the peace deal which allows up to two six-month extensions to the transition.

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