Reacting to the mounting opposition against the timetable released by the Independent Electoral Commission on Monday, the head of the IEC said on Wednesday that all those opposed to the timetable can seek recourse before the Supreme Court.

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.

Four days after Congo Government spokesman Lambert Mende lambasted Human Rights Watch about what he called “exaggerated” allegations on the situation in eastern Congo and the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) military operation (Kimia II) against the Rwandan Hutu militia FDLR, the NGO responded with new allegations against the FARDC and their Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) allies in another operation (Umoja Wetu) earlier this year against the FDLR.

During a press conference on Thursday in Kinshasa, Government spokesman Lambert Mende blasted what he called an “avalanche of corrosive reports being poured lately” by NGOs about the situation in eastern Congo.