Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Thomas Fessy on anti-Kabila protests in Kinshasa

More than 20 people have been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, over President Joseph Kabila's failure to give up power, a UN official has said.

Some of the dead were shot at close range by troops, witnesses said.

Mr Kabila's 15-year rule was due to have ended on Monday at midnight, but has been extended to 2018.

Mr Kabila's main rival said the refusal to give up power amounted to a coup.

The electoral commission cancelled elections that were scheduled for last month, citing logistical and financial difficulties in organising them.

Mr Kabila has now formed a 74-member transitional government to lead the vast central African state until elections are held in 2018.

There were "solid" reports that 20 civilians had been killed in clashes in Kinshasa, said Jose Maria Aranaz, the UN human rights director for DR Congo.

"On the issue of deaths, it looks bad," he was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

Image caption DR Congo's capital has been a flashpoint of violence

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Protesters say Mr Kabila is ruling the country illegally

Gunfire was also heard in the second city, Lubumbashi, but it was unclear who was behind the shooting.

In a video posted on social media, main opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi called for peaceful protests to demand Mr Kabila's resignation.

"I launch a solemn appeal to the Congolese people to not recognise the... illegal and illegitimate authority of Joseph Kabila and to peacefully resist [his] coup d'etat," Mr Tshisekedi said.

His message was not available in DR Congo, where authorities have restricted access to social media networks, the AFP news agency reports.

DR Congo has not had a smooth transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

Mr Kabila took power in 2001 following the assassination of his father Laurent Kabila.

The constitution bars him from seeking a third term in office.</s>Congolese protesters scatter as South African police open fire with rubber bullets whilst they protest outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo's embassy in defiance of their President, Joseph Kabila on December 20, 2016 in Pretoria. AFP PHOTO

At least 11 people were killed in DR Congo on Tuesday as clashes erupted during protests against President Joseph Kabila who is refusing to leave office as his mandate ends, officials said.

Nine people died in Kinshasa during protests to demand that President Kabila step down, a government spokesman said, while a protester and a policeman were killed in the second city Lubumbashi according the region's governor.

"In Kinshasa there were nine dead, not a single one more," said Mr Lambert Mende, the government's chief spokesman.

The UN's mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, had earlier said it was probing reliable reports that around 20 people had been killed in the country's capital during protests.

Governor Jean-Claude Kazembe said that along with the two fatalities in Lubumbashi, three people had been hurt in clashes.

President Kabila appears determined to cling on to power, and tensions in DR Congo have been running high, with police massing in the cities and many people staying home to avoid violence.</s>KINSHASA, Congo -- Security forces clashed with protesters in the capital of Congo on Tuesday, leaving up to 20 people dead, as a political crisis escalated over the president's refusal to step down at the end of his formal term.

The demonstrations were scattered across Kinshasa, a sprawling city of 12 million, and quickly put down by heavily armed soldiers and police. Young men set tires aflame and threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas. There were few details about the killings, but some hospitals in the city reported receiving victims who had been shot or beaten. By midafternoon, police officers could be seen arresting young men in large groups.

The United Nations had "received reports that 20 people were killed," said Felix Basse, a U.N. spokesman in Kinshasa. By Tuesday evening, it was still working to confirm those reports, he said.

Monday was originally meant to be President Joseph Kabila's last day in office, but his coalition claimed the country lacked the money or logistical resources to hold elections until 2018, a move widely perceived by Congolese citizens and the international community as a way to extend his rule. Opposition leaders encouraged their followers to defy the governing coalition's decision by taking to the streets, where police and soldiers had been deployed en masse to enforce a government ban on public demonstrations. During the last sizable anti-government protests in September, about 50 people were killed.

"Today we are taking things into our own hands," said Peter Kabongo, 27, who was preparing to join a demonstration in Kinshasa's Matete district, where periodic gunfire could be heard. "The police have guns, but there are millions of us who want Kabila out."

There were also protests in Lubumbashi, the country's second-largest city, and witnesses reported that demonstrators had set a gas station on fire.

The country, also known as Democratic Republic of the Congo, is sub-Saharan Africa's largest nation by total area, and it has not had a peaceful hand-over of power since it became independent from Belgium in 1960. Kabila has ruled since 2001, when he assumed the presidency after the assassination of his father, President Laurent-Desire Kabila.

Kabila has served two terms, and the country's constitution does not permit leaders to run for a third term. But Kabila argued that the country was not prepared to hold elections, and the Constitutional Court approved his plan to stay on until the next elections.

In this mineral-rich country, power often translates to wealth, and reports have linked Kabila's family to a large fortune, even as most of Congo's citizens earn less than $2 per day. Some politicians have backed Kabila's plan to delay elections, but many others, including the country's most powerful opposition figures, have not.

Negotiations on the crisis between Kabila's coalition and the largely fragmented opposition have so far been unsuccessful. In a video posted Monday night, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi called on people to "peacefully resist [Kabila's] coup d'etat."

On Monday, Kabila's chief diplomatic adviser, Kikaya Bin Karubi, called anti-government protesters a "loud and insistent mob." He said the demonstrations would have no bearing on Kabila's decision to stay in power until the delayed elections. Late on Monday night, the government announced new Cabinet appointments, which included some opposition members who agreed to postpone elections until 2018.

The country is still reeling from a series of conflicts between 1996 and 2003 that left millions dead. Experts and Western officials worry that the political instability caused by the postponed elections could reignite fighting.

As the day ended, the only people left demonstrating on the streets of Kinshasa were men wearing flags emblazoned with Kabila's face and the phrase "We support the president."

The police didn't stop them, despite the ban on public gatherings.

"The president gave us this big road," said Etienne Kayembe, 40, pointing to the city's main highway that had been emptied due to the widespread police presence. "Before Kabila, we had nothing like this."</s>Security forces shot dead several protesters who had gathered in the streets of Kinshasa on Tuesday to demand that Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila step down after his mandate expired overnight.

Scattered protests started on Tuesday, and opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi called on the Congolese people to peacefully resist Mr Kabila, who has remained in power beyond his constitutional mandate with no election to pick a successor.

Gunfire crackled in several districts of the capital Kinshasa, a city of 12 million, as measures to thwart dissent raised fears of bloody repression.

“On the issue of deaths, it looks bad,” the UN human rights director for Congo, Jose Maria Aranaz, said by telephone. “We are reviewing allegations of up to 20 civilians killed, but it [the information] is pretty solid.”

At least two civilians were killed overnight when soldiers opened fire during clashes in the neighbourhood of Kingabwa, two witnesses said. The government spokesman could not be reached for comment and a police spokesman said he did not have information.

With a ban on demonstrations in force, and a heavy military presence, Kinshasa’s normally busy main boulevards were for the most part deserted as pockets of youths gathered in side streets only to be dispersed by the volleys of teargas.

UN peacekeepers in armoured personnel carriers patrolled the streets, at one point cheered on by a crowd shouting: “Kabila, know that your mandate is finished!”

“I think there will be trouble. The people are saying Kabila has to leave,” said student Joe Doublier (20), peering nervously out of his house in the opposition stronghold of Limete, where youths burned tyres and pieces of wood in the streets.

“It’s been 16 years and nothing has changed,” he said, referring to the time Mr Kabila has been in power since his father was assassinated in 2001.

In Lubumbashi, a city in the heart of Africa’s richest copper mining area, police and Mr Kabila’s elite military Republican Guard fired live bullets to prevent demonstrations, Gregoire Mulamba, a local human rights activist, told Reuters.

Local activist Jean-Pierre Muteba said there was one death, a 14-year-old boy shot by police. A police spokesman said he did not have enough information to comment.

The mayor of Lubumbashi, Jean Oscar Sanguza, said security forces had intervened to stop looters, and denied reports of deaths in the confrontations.

In a video posted on YouTube, opposition leader Mr Tshisekedi said: “I launch a solemn appeal to the Congolese people to not recognise the . . . illegal and illegitimate authority of Joseph Kabila and to peacefully resist [his] coup d’état,”

Authorities have blocked most social media. Such restrictive measures have raised fears of more violence in a nation that has never had a peaceful transfer of power and has suffered near-constant war and instability in the two decades since the fall of kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko.

Western powers are nervous of a repeat of the conflicts between 1996 to 2003 that killed millions, drew in half a dozen neighbouring armies and saw rebel fighters rape women en masse.

The United States and European Union have called for Mr Kabila to respect the constitution. Congo’s former colonial master Belgium said on Tuesday it would “re-examine” relations with Mr Kabila after he failed to step down.

France urged the European Union re-examine its links with Congo because of the “seriousness of the situation”.

Mr Kabila has rarely spoken about the issue in public, but his allies say the election was delayed because of logistical and financial problems. The constitutional court has ruled that Mr Kabila can stay on until the election takes place, and some opposition leaders have agreed to this.

In what appeared to be an attempt at soothing opposition grievances, Mr Kabila’s administration announced on state TV an expansion of the government by about 20 ministerial posts to more than 65, many of them reserved for opposition members.

But many opponents, especially in Kinshasa, are not buying it. Demonstrators in the districts of Kalamu, Matete and Lingwala as well as at Kinshasa University blew whistles around midnight to signal to Mr Kabila that it was time to leave.</s>France said Wednesday that DR Congo President Joseph Kabila may face EU sanctions over his refusal to step down at the end of his mandate.

"If things don't proceed properly, towards dialogue and an end to the democratic impasse," France will ask the European Union to consider sanctions against Kabila, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll told reporters.

He said Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault discussed the option during a cabinet meeting.

The European Union imposed travel bans and asset freezes on seven top DR Congo officials on December 12, three months after a crackdown on anti-Kabila protesters left more than 50 people dead.

Washington, which had previously targeted several senior figures close to the president for sanctions, added two more on December 12.

According to a United Nations provisional toll, at least 19 people were killed in street protests in DR Congo on Tuesday, the final day of Kabila's second and final term in office.

Veteran opposition figure Etienne Tshisekedi called for "peaceful resistance" against Kabila, who is showing no sign of plans to leave power anytime soon.

Kabila, 45, who has ruled since 2001, is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term but under a controversial recent constitutional court order, he may stay on until a successor is chosen.

"The end of Mr Kabila's mandate should normally lead to new elections without the outgoing president standing in them," Le Foll said Wednesday.

The president has been in office since his father Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001. He was elected in 2006, and again in 2011.</s>Scattered protests started on Tuesday, and opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi called on the Congolese people to peacefully resist Kabila, who has remained in power beyond his constitutional mandate with no election to pick a successor.

Gunfire crackled in several districts of the capital Kinshasa, a city of 12 million, as measures to thwart dissent raised fears of bloody repression.

"On the issue of deaths, it looks bad," the U.N. human rights director for Congo, Jose Maria Aranaz, told Reuters.

"We are reviewing allegations of up to 20 civilians killed, but it (the information) is pretty solid."

At least two civilians were killed overnight when soldiers opened fire during clashes in the neighborhood of Kingabwa, two witnesses said. The government spokesman could not be reached for comment and a police spokesman had no information.

With a ban on demonstrations in force and a heavy military presence, Kinshasa's normally busy main boulevards were for the most part deserted as pockets of youths gathered in sidestreets only to be dispersed by volleys of teargas.

By sunset, the city was calm, although littered with debris and burned tires from earlier rioting.

Scores of people were arrested, especially in the eastern city of Goma, rights groups said. Reuters witnesses saw more than a dozen young men who had been arrested seated in the back of a military truck near the university.

"I'm gravely concerned by the arrests of those who seek to express their political views," the head of the U.N. mission Maman Sidikou said in a statement, adding that U.N. staff had not been able to consistently gain access to jails to gather information on how many people had been arrested.

He called on Congo to end "politically-motivated detentions".U.N. peacekeepers in armoured personnel carriers patrolled the streets, at one point cheered on by a crowd shouting: "Kabila, know that your mandate is finished!"

In Lubumbashi, in the heart of Africa's richest copper mining area, police and Kabila's elite Republican Guard fired live bullets to prevent demonstrations, Gregoire Mulamba, a local human rights activist, told Reuters.

Local activist Jean-Pierre Muteba reported at least one death, a 14-year-old boy shot by police. A police spokesman said he did not have enough information to comment.

The mayor of Lubumbashi, Jean Oscar Sanguza, told Reuters security forces had intervened to stop looters.

In the city of Kananga, in central Congo, fighting between security forces and a local clan militia shut down the airport.

In a video posted on YouTube, opposition leader Tshisekedi called on people to "not recognize the ... illegal ... authority of Joseph Kabila and to peacefully resist (his) coup d'etat."Authorities have blocked most social media.

Western powers are nervous of a repeat of the conflicts between 1996 to 2003 that killed millions, drew in half a dozen neighboring armies and saw rebel fighters rape women en masse. Congo has never experienced a peaceful transition of power. The United States and European Union have called for Kabila to respect the constitution.

Congo's former colonial master Belgium said on Tuesday it would "re-examine" relations with Kabila and France urged the European Union re-examine its links with Congo. Kabila, who has ruled since 2001, rarely speaks about the issue in public, but his allies say the election was delayed because of logistical and financial problems. The constitutional court has ruled Kabila can stay on until the vote takes place.</s>Supporters of DR Congo President Joseph Kabila parade his photograph in Kinshasa in November 2006. By Lionel HEALING (AFP/File)

Kinshasa (AFP) - Gunfire was heard in DR Congo's two largest cities as the opposition leader called on citizens to reject President Joseph Kabila whose mandate expired Tuesday with no sign he was ready to leave.

With fears of fresh violence high in the vast and unstable nation, shots rang out in the capital Kinshasa and there was sustained gunfire in the country's second city of Lubumbashi.

Kinshasa ground almost to a halt Tuesday with people staying at home as groups of youths burnt tyres and built barricades on the streets, AFP reporters said.

Dozens of troop carriers patrolled the megacity of 10 million people and police officers and paramilitaries were out in force in other cities as they have been since Sunday.

Tensions have been soaring ahead of the end of Kabila's mandate with the international community warning of violence.

France on Tuesday called on the authorities to "respect human rights" after the clashes erupted.

The 45-year-old leader, who has ruled since 2001, is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term but under a controversial recent constitutional court order, he may stay on until a successor is chosen.

An AFP correspondent said the streets of Lubumbashi's Matuba neighbourhood were strewn with rocks and burnt tyres early Tuesday amid a heavy police presence.

Local authorities in the city added that "police were forced to fire into the air to disperse civilians" because three protesters were armed. It was impossible to immediately verify that claim.

Several people are thought to have been killed in the unrest in various regions, but this has yet to be confirmed.

National police spokesman colonel Pierre-Rombaut Mwanamputu told AFP he was unable to give an immediate toll after the violence.

"Fortunately, we are not back to the slaughter of September," he said, referring to September's bloodshed when at least 53 anti-Kabila protesters died in two days of protests, according to the UN.

As the clock ticked on Tuesday's end-of-mandate deadline, crowds had gathered before midnight Monday to blow whistles and beat on improvised drums, calling on Kabila to quit.

"There was teargas and gunfire, they threatened the population," said Andre, a resident of Kinshasa's Matete neighbourhood on Tuesday.

State television overnight announced the formation of a new government in line with an October deal between the ruling party and tiny fringe opposition groups to leave Kabila in office pending elections in April 2018.

But the main opposition bloc rejects this plan.

The new cabinet will be led by Sami Badibanga, a defector from the party of the mainstream opposition party led by 84-year-old Etienne Tshisekedi.

In a YouTube video released during the night, Tshisekedi launched "a solemn appeal to the Congolese people to no longer recognise the authority of Mr. Joseph Kabila, to the international community to no longer deal with Joseph Kabila in the name of the Democratic Republic of Congo".

Valentin Mubake, a close aide to Tshisekedi, confirmed to AFP that the video was authentic, and said it was filmed in the Kinshasa district where he lives.

The message was not available in the DR Congo where authorities since Sunday have imposed controls on pictures and video on social media networks.

The leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) said he hoped to continue talks that were launched by the Catholic Church last week to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

The talks were halted on Saturday with no significant progress made, but were due to resume on Wednesday.

Tshisekedi's opposition grouping had threatened to bring people onto the streets from Monday if the talks had failed.

A democratic handover would break new ground for DR Congo's 70 million people who since independence from Belgium in 1960 have never witnessed a democratic transfer of power following polls.

The president has been in office since his father Laurent Kabila's assassination in 2001. He was elected in 2006, and again in 2011, in a poll the opposition decried as rigged.

Some two decades ago, Congo collapsed into the deadliest conflict in modern African history, its two wars in the late 1990s and early 2000s dragging in at least six African armies and leaving more than three million dead.</s>A man screams as people gather to protest in the neighbourhood of Yolo in Kinshasa on December 20, 2016. By Eduardo Soteras (AFP)

Kinshasa (AFP) - At least 11 people were killed in DR Congo on Tuesday as clashes erupted during protests against President Joseph Kabila who is refusing to leave office as his mandate ends, officials said.

Nine people died in Kinshasa during protests to demand that Kabila step down, a government spokesman said, while a protester and a policeman were killed in the second city Lubumbashi according the region's governor.

"In Kinshasa there were nine dead, not a single one more," said Lambert Mende, the government's chief spokesman.

The UN's mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, had earlier said it was probing reliable reports that around 20 people had been killed in the country's capital during protests.

Governor Jean-Claude Kazembe said that along with the two fatalities in Lubumbashi, three people had been hurt in clashes.

Kabila appears determined to cling on to power, and tensions in DR Congo have been running high, with police massing in the cities and many people staying home to avoid violence.</s>A man drives past a sign asking for President Joseph Kabila's resignation on an avenue in Kinshasa on December 19, 2016. By Eduardo SOTERAS (AFP)

Kinshasa (AFP) - Gunfire erupted in several parts of Kinshasa early Tuesday as Congo's long-serving President Joseph Kabila appeared set to stay on despite the expiry of his mandate and announced a new government.

Shots rang out in several parts of the sprawling city of 10 million, especially in two northern quarters after whistles -- an opposition sign of protest -- were heard in several areas.

Demonstrators blew whistles and beat on improvised drums, their gesture for a red card, asking the 45-year-old who has led the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2001 to quit the top job.

State television overnight announced the formation of a new government following an agreement between Kabila's administration and a fringe opposition group.

The new cabinet will be led by Sami Badibanga, a defector from the party of the mainstream opposition party led by 84-year-old Etienne Tshisekedi.

A muffled explosion was also heard in the posh quarter of Gombe, where the presidential palace is located. Residents said tear gas shells were fired in other areas but it was unclear who was behind the shooting.

Talks on a peaceful transition are in limbo, sparking fears of fresh violence in the unstable mineral-rich nation.

Kinshasa was a shadow of itself Monday with barely any traffic on the main roads, public transport at a minimum, and soldiers and police outnumbering passers-by.

Shops were shuttered in the main square and there were tense scenes at Kinshasa University, where dozens of police and troops held back hundreds of angry students.

The UN rights office in Congo said 28 people were arrested in Kinshasa on Monday and 46 in the eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu.

In the volatile east, nine rebels, a South African peacekeeper, a Congolese soldier, a police officer and a civilian were killed when militia fighters attacked several buildings in Butembo, including the prison.

A supplier of minerals crucial for everyday items ranging from smartphones to lightbulbs -- tantalum, tungsten, tin and coltan -- the mineral trade in the east of the country has long been linked to armed groups and conflict.

Kabila, who has been in power for 15 years, is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term but under a recent constitutional court order, he may stay on until a successor is chosen.

The ruling party and some opposition leaders have agreed to schedule an election in April 2018 at the earliest, leaving Kabila in office until the vote. But the main opposition bloc rejects this plan.

In Kinshasa, security forces cordoned off the university but students reached by telephone said they had been planning "to march peacefully" to parliament to demand Kabila step down.

An AFP video journalist and a fixer -- both Congolese -- were arrested at the university and detained for 10 hours before being released late on Monday.

They were questioned by officials from several services and they went through the contents of the video reporter's phone.

Franck Diongo, the leader of a minor opposition party, was arrested and accused of detaining three Republican Guards, Kabila's diplomatic advisor Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi said.

Security was also tight in the second city, Lubumbashi, in the southeast, with most shops closed and very little traffic on the roads.

Social networks have been cut or filtered since midnight Sunday on government orders and police at the weekend banned gatherings of more than 10 people.

In a last-ditch bid to achieve a peaceful transfer of power, the ruling party and fringe opposition groups held talks last week with the mainstream opposition led by Tshisekedi.

But after a week of mediation, they were suspended and due to resume on Wednesday.

A democratic handover would break new ground for Congo's 70 million people who since independence from Belgium in 1960 have never witnessed a democratic transfer of power following polls.

The president has been in office since his father Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001. He was elected in 2006, and again in 2011, in a poll the opposition decried as rigged.

Tshisekedi's opposition grouping has threatened to bring people onto the streets from Monday if the talks failed.

"I don't see (Kabila) caving in to pressure," his diplomatic advisor Bin Karubi said Monday.

Some two decades ago, Congo sunk into the deadliest conflict in modern African history, its two wars in the late 1990s and early 2000s dragging in at least six African armies and leaving more than three million dead.</s>A Federal Foreign Office Spokesperson issued the following statement in Berlin today (19 December 2016):

"Today marks the official end of the second term in office of the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as laid down in the country's Constitution. This law does not allow a President to stand as a candidate a third time.

According to the Constitution, presidential elections ought to have been held at the latest on 27 November 2016. The German Government very much regrets that this has not happened despite all the efforts at national and international level.

From now on, the Congolese Government's scope for action will be restricted. The German Government will adapt its political contacts and cooperation in accordance. The negotiations on development cooperation scheduled to take place next year will be postponed indefinitely. The German Government reserves the right to take further steps.

It supports the talks mediated by the Congolese Conference of Catholic Bishops aiming to reach a compromise solution to make the transitional period leading to the presidential elections as short as possible without having to amend the Constitution.

If agreement is reached, the German Government is prepared, together with its European partners, to support the election process."
Clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters demanding the resignation of President Joseph Kabila reportedly leave more than 20 people dead in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.