UN says police have arrested pro-democracy activists in Congo-Kinshasa

Police arrested 18 protesters on Tuesday in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma during a peaceful demonstration over the jailing of two fellow activists, the United Nations said. Arrests of critics of President Joseph Kabila have become common in Congo amid heightened political tensions. 

Kabila is required by the constitution to step down in December after 15 years in office but the opposition accuses him of trying to cling to power by delaying a presidential poll set for November.

The activists were detained just after they began marching to demand the release of fellow members of the Struggle for Change (Lucha) group a year ago in the capital, Kinshasa, Jose Maria Aranaz, director of Congo's UN human rights office, said.