Congolese authorities are taking increasingly aggressive measures to stifle the political opposition, blocking radio signals and surrounding the home of the opposition leader ahead of planned protests this past weekend.

Early Saturday morning, ahead of public meetings in cities throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities cut the signal for Radio France International (RFI) in Kinshasa and the southern city of Lubumbashi, and jammed the signal for the United Nations-supported Radio Okapi. RFI was allowed back on the air in Lubumbashi on Saturday, but it’s still blocked in Kinshasa, and Radio Okapi also remains jammed in parts of Kinshasa – for the fourth day in a row.

© 2008 Anthony de Bibo/Human Rights Watch

By interfering with the signals of the two main radio stations in Congo, officials are blocking access for millions to credible, independent reporting.

The government communications minister, Lambert Mende, justified the move by claiming RFI had “transformed itself into the press attaché of the opposition.” But the real goal seems to be to try prevent people from hearing about the opposition meeting and the government’s repressive moves to prevent the meeting from going ahead.

Police in riot gear and armored vehicles surrounded the home of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, due to speak at Saturday’s meeting, as well as the area outside the Stade de Martyrs, where the meeting was due to be held. They blocked Tshisekedi from leaving his home and fired teargas to disperse supporters. Organized soccer matches – including police and soldiers playing in civilian clothes, according to witnesses – were held throughout the day outside the Stade de Martyrs, apparently to block access to the areas where people were due to congregate for the meeting. Security force officers recruited and paid members of youth leagues to infiltrate and cause disorder during the opposition meeting, if it went forward, according to one of the recruits.

The night before the planned meeting, police arrested opposition UPDS member Héritier Bokopo Lifula for having allegedly organized the theft of weapons and ammunition from police stations during the demonstrations in Kinshasa on September 19 and 20. According to his lawyer, security forces looted Lifula’s home during the arrest, and he has not yet been allowed to see his client held at the police station.

Meanwhile, in the eastern city of Goma, police prevented members of the Rassemblement opposition coalition from holding a meeting at the Bungwe hotel. One of the police officers told Human Rights Watch later, “I could not authorize this meeting. If I did, I would be sanctioned by my superiors, and how would I then feed my children?”

Further south, on Monday, intelligence agents arrested the director general of the radio and TV station “Manika” and a colleague in Kolwezi, Lualaba province, after he broadcast an interview with the opposition leader, presidential candidate, and former governor Moise Katumbi, whose soccer team Tout Puissant Mazembe won a match on Sunday. Katumbi was convicted earlier this year in absentia in a politically motivated trial and sentenced to three years in prison and a US$1 million fine. Both journalists were released earlier today.

These developments come less than six weeks before the December 19 deadline for when President Joseph Kabila is due to step down at the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit.

Over the past two years, Congolese authorities have repeatedly cracked down on journalists and the media. Authorities have blocked the RFI signal several times during sensitive political moments, and the government has shut down a number of media outlets close to the opposition, at least seven of which remain blocked. According to Reporters Without Borders, authorities have assaulted or persecuted at least 63 journalists since January 2016. In an apparent attempt to block independent observers from documenting government repression during demonstrations in Kinshasa on September 19, security forces detained at least eight Congolese and international journalists – including RFI’s Sonia Rolley, an Agence France-Presse photographer, and two TV5 journalists. They were all released by the evening. In January 2015, authorities shut down all internet and text message communication in Kinshasa and elsewhere when political demonstrations erupted across the country in which at least 43 people were killed.

In statements issued over the past few days, the Congolese human rights organization Voix des Sans Voix (VSV) and the 33-organization Coalition for the Respect of the Constitution denounced the government’s abuse of power and called for the RFI and Radio Okapi signals to be restored immediately. The secretary-general of the International Organization of the Francophonie called the move “unacceptable,” while the French foreign minister called it an “incomprehensible decision in today’s world.” The United States embassy said it is “deeply troubled by the apparent jamming” of RFI and Radio Okapi signals.

Visiting Congo later this week, the UN Security Council should deliver strong public messages to Congolese authorities, denouncing these and other forms of political repression and calling for basic freedoms to be respected.