DR Congo rights groups condemn government

A coalition of seven human rights groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo has condemned the government for banning the country's main human rights organisation, AZADHO.

The coalition the Human Rights Now Committee said the authorities were intimidating human rights activists and wanted to install a new dictatorship.

The banning of AZHADO was announced on Friday and has already led to a diplomatic row between the Kinshasa government and the former colonial power, Belgium.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service