At least 19 Congolese dead, 45 wounded in anti-Kabila protests

The U.N. mission in Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed 19 deaths and 45 injuries from gunshots during protests on Tuesday against President Joseph Kabila for overstaying his mandate, the human rights director said on Wednesday.

“We are very concerned by the excessive use of force by state agents, notably the (police), the Republican Guard, the military police and the National Agency of Intelligence,” Jose Maria Aranaz, head of the U.N. human rights office in Congo, told reporters in the capital Kinshasa.