GOMA: Four civilians and a policeman were killed Monday in clashes in eastern DR Congo as demonstrations took place to demand President Joseph Kabila stand down this year, an AFP correspondent said.
The journalist said he saw the bodies of four civilians lying in blood in the Madjengon district of Goma, capital of the troubled North Kivu province, while the body of a policeman who had been hit with stones was on the ground in the neighbouring district Mabanga.
The protest was organised by an associations of civil society groups, including the pro-democracy Struggle for Change (Lucha).
"The resistance against the bloody and predatory regime of Kabila has well and truly begun," Lucha said on Twitter.
Tensions are running high in the Democratic Republic of Congo after Kabila failed to step down on the expiry of his second and final term last December.
Elections were due to take place this year under a transitional deal aimed at avoiding bloodshed in a country beset by ethnic divisions and fighting in its east.
But the country's electoral commission earlier this month announced there would be no vote before early 2019, sparking fresh security concerns.
The international community has pressed for a vote to choose a new head of state to be held as soon as possible -- but no timetable has been set so far.
During a visit to the country last week, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called on the government to hold elections next year, rather than delay them until 2019, if it wanted to count on American backing.