KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A government official in the Democratic Republic of Congo said he was concerned about the mental state of the country's main opposition leader.
The DRC has elections Nov. 28, just the second election in more than 40 years.
Recent DRC conflicts were linked to tensions between incumbent President Joseph Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy and opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress.
Tshisekedi told pro-UDSP television station RLTV that he was calling the shots in the country.
"I'm giving a 48-hour deadline for all opposition prisoners to be released," he was quoted by the BBC as saying. "Past that deadline, I will ask the population to attack prisons and free them, and as president, I'm ordering prison guards not to resist."
Opposition loyalists told the British broadcaster they were ready to march on the country's main prison in Kinshasa.
Lambert Mende, the country's information minister who closed RLTV after Tshisekedi's remarks, said he questioned the opposition leader's mental health. His comments, he added, could amount to treason.
U.N. and Congolese security forces have helped train more than 700 police officers to keep the peace during the elections.