50 protesters killed during anti-Kabila protests –UN

The United Nations through its human rights chief has revealed that the number of protesters that have been killed during anti-Kabila protests which broke out this week has reached 50.

The UN chief accused the Congolese government of taking an “extremely confrontational position” towards anti-government protesters and urged them to seek dialogue with the opposition.

Even as the Congolese government has put the death toll arising from the protests at 32, U.N. rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein has revealed from their counts, no less than 50 people have been killed following violent protests which broke out in the capital of Kinshasa.

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“The writing is on the wall and the authorities need to pull back from their extremely confrontational position and build bridges with the opposition,” Zeid said in a statement.

“Some civilians were killed by gunshots to the head or chest and I strongly condemn the clearly excessive use of force by defense and security forces against demonstrators in the capital,” he said.

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