The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. August 9, 2017 Opposition in Democratic Republic of the Congo Launches General Strike, Demands Elections ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, the United Nations is also warning of a humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo amid fighting between the government and rebel groups. The U.N. has accused the government forces of carrying out massacres that could spiral into ethnic cleansing. Opposition groups in the Congo have launched a general strike in order to demand new elections by the end of the year. This is market seller Maman Jeanne, who backs the call for new elections. Maman Jeanne: "Sir, they want to kill us for our own country. They are just lying to us. They distract us. But we want to have elections being organized, so we, the people, could elect someone to be our president, someone in whom we can trust, so our children would have a better life. This is what we want. We do not need wars or useless conflicts. We really do not need that. We just want to have elections being organized. That's all I have to say." .