http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/world/africa/congo-kabila-un.html 2016-09-22 17:43:07 U.N. Criticizes Congo for Response to Deadly Unrest The high commissioner for human rights blamed the government for using excessive force during political demonstrations and riots that may have killed over 50 people. === KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — The United Nations high commissioner for human rights blamed the government of the The deadly unrest convulsed Kinshasa, the capital, as the country slides into a period of dangerous political uncertainty. The president, For the first time in days, most stores reopened on Thursday and a beat of normal life returned to Kinshasa. The streets were plugged with traffic, and moving markets of thousands of women selling soda, bananas, vegetables and baguettes from their atop their heads streamed by. On Monday, opposition supporters had rampaged through several Kinshasa slum areas burning cars, smashing into stores, looting banks, and attacking police officers and the offices of Mr. Kabila’s political party. The next day, the headquarters of several opposition parties were hit with grenades and machine-gun fire, killing at least half a dozen people. Witnesses said the attackers had been soldiers in uniform. Some opposition supporters were burned to death, their charred bodies found face up in the rubble. The He also said that civilians had been shot in the head and chest and that Mr. Kabila’s government had deployed the Republican Guard, a heavily armed military unit that is considered the most loyal to him, for crowd control. Many fear that violence will return as the Dec. 20 deadline for Mr. Kabila to leave office draws closer. He has been president for Congo has been racked by intermittent bursts of turbulence and war since the mid-1990s, when a rebellion Western nations have been pleading The Congolese government has been trying to persuade opposition leaders to accept a delay in the elections. Several main opposition figures have said they will support a delay under one condition: that Mr. Kabila step down. Mr. Kabila has not explicitly said that he will do that, and