Amid tension after political talks on the country's future reached deadlock, Police have been deployed in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where an anti-government protest was held.

According to Ceoafrica, at daybreak, students at the Institute of Applied Technology burnt tyres and pelted police vehicles with stones. As security forces intervened there, commuter minibuses turned back from the city centre.

“Kinshasa is dead today”, a resident said.

The failed talks covered the implementation of a power-sharing agreement that was reached on New Year's Eve. It envisaged elections and offered President Joseph Kabila a peaceful exit after 17 years in power.

The bishops who led the talks said they could no longer extend deadlines on details such as the choice of a transitional prime minister.

Their chairman, Abbot Nshole, said politicians had been selfish. They had failed to take into account the suffering of ordinary people. He did not, however, rule out a further mediation role for the Catholic Church.