Calls for dialogue in Congo on eve of tense referendum

Brazzaville (AFP) - Republic of Congo's political leaders faced calls Friday to defuse tensions after deadly clashes in the oil-producing country in the run-up to a referendum on allowing longtime President Denis Sassou Nguesso to seek a third term.

The archbishop of the capital Brazzaville, Anatole Nilandou, appealed to the various political parties to enter talks on the crisis sparked by Sassou Nguesso's bid to extend his rule, warning that failure to "save national cohesion" would be "collective suicide".

The appeal by the leader of Congo's biggest religious community came as the opposition called off all protests in Brazzaville Friday, the last day of campaigning before Sunday's referendum.

The leader of the opposition Republican Front for the Respect of Constitutional Order and Democratic Transition (FROCAD) Paul-Marie Mpouele told AFP late Thursday that authorities in Brazzaville had banned all public gatherings in the city's main square Friday.

On Tuesday, four people were killed in clashes between opposition demonstrators and security forces in Brazzaville and the economic capital Pointe-Noire, according to the authorities.

Mpouele claimed at least 20 people had died in the unrest and asked opposition supporters "to reject the referendum" but also to "avoid all violent acts".

On Friday, the situation in the capital was peaceful, but the security forces had sealed off access to the home of another opposition leader, Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, an AFP correspondent reported.

Mobile Internet, text messaging services and French radio RFI's signal remained suspended for a fourth day running.

Sassou Nguesso, 71, wants to amend the constitution in order to change two provisions that disqualify him for running for reelection in 2016.

Under the current charter, the maximum age of presidential candidates is 70 and the maximum number of mandates a person can serve is two.

- 'Sassoufit' -

Sassou Nguesso, who has led the small central African country in different capacities for over 30 years since the 1970s, has already served two consecutive seven-year terms.

The former Marxist soldier was president from 1979 to 1992, when Congo was a one-party state. He went into opposition in 1992 after losing multi-party elections but returned to power at the end of a brief but bloody civil war in 1997 in which his rebel forces ousted president Pascal Lissouba.

He was elected president in 2002, then again in 2009, when he won nearly 79 percent of the votes. Half of his 12 rivals boycotted the most recent election.

The European Union stressed Thursday that "freedom of expression and association should be preserved" and that "an inclusive dialogue was the only way to restore a broad consensus" in the country.

The president of former colonial power France, Francois Hollande, on Wednesday urged Sassou Nguesso to "calm tensions" while emphasising his right to "consult his people".

Tens of thousands of the president's supporters rallied in Brazzaville on October 10 in favour of the constitutional changes.

The turnout dwarfed an anti-government demonstration late last month, when several thousand people poured onto the capital's streets to protest against the president's plan to cling to power.

They rallied under the cry "Sassoufit", a pun on the French expression "ca suffit" which means "that's enough".