During a meeting held on Friday in Kinshasa, members of the political opposition and human rights NGOs vowed to join forces to fight what they called the erosion of democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

President Joseph Kabila signed into law on Wednesday a bill replacing the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Officials say that 44 people are still missing after a boat sunk on Wednesday in Bandundu Province. Earlier reports had put the death toll at around 140 people.

At least 138 people are dead after a boat sunk on the Kasai River on Wednesday in Bandundu province.

President Joseph Kabila arrived in Bukavu on Monday morning and went straight from Kavumu airport to the bedsides of the victims of Friday night oil tanker explosion in Sange, who had been transferred to hospitals in the capital of South Kivu province.

President Jospeh Kabila has declared two days of mourning following the death of 235 people in an oil tanker truck explosion in eastern Congo.

A least 200 people are dead after an oil tanker overturned Friday night and later exploded in the eastern South Kivu province town of Sange, near Uvira. At least 212 people were injured.