Some 40,000 Join Pro-govt Rally As DR Congo Poll Row Mounts

KINSHASA,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th july,2016) - Tens of thousands of people rallied in Kinshasa in support of Congolese President Joseph Kabila just two days after his leading opponent returned home to a massive welcome. Political tension is high in the country as the opposition fears that Kabila, whose mandate ends in December, will delay elections in a bid to cling on to power.

"We came here to affirm our support for Joseph Kabila," Aubin Minaku, secretary general of the ruling majority and president of the national assembly, told a crowd estimated at over 40,000, an AFP correspondent at the scene reported. "Kabila, stay as long as possible," the crowd shouted, alluding to the political controversy raging in Democratic Republic of Congo. In power since his father's assassination in 2001, Kabila is suspected by opponents of eyeing a third term which would involve changing the constitution's two-term limit.