Congo election delay turns frustration into anger

Street protests were held in two eastern cities where Sunday's presidential election will be delayed after local residents found out that Congo's next president will be sworn in two months before they get to vote. In Beni and Goma, several hundred people gathered. Police fired gunshots and teargas to disperse the crowds.

Protesters ransacked and set fire to an isolation centre for the highly-contagious Ebola virus in Beni, causing 24 patients to flee. Officials said 17 of them had already tested negative and seven others had not yet been tested. The latest outbreak is Congo's second deadliest, and has so far killed more than 350 people.

Lamuka, a coalition of parties supporting opposition candidate Martin Fayulu called for a nationwide stoppage on Friday in a bid to turn normally busy cities into ghost towns. As a prelude, local residents set up barricades and burned tires.

The areas where Sunday's election is being postponed are strongholds of opposition against outgoing President Joseph Kabila. Protest organizers have denounced the delay as an effort to swing the vote in favour of his preferred candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary (pictured).

Sunday's election will proceed everywhere except Beni, Butembo, and the southwestern territory of Yumbi, where more than 100 people were killed in ethnic violence last week. Three percent of some 40 million registered voters will be affected. Pictured are supporters of former oil executive Martin Fayulu, one of three leading candidates.