| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
DRC: Fighting in east as army vows to topple Kabila 1998.8.3
NAIROBI, 3 August 1998 (IRIN) - Elements of the armed forces in eastern DRC have announced a rebellion to topple President Laurent-Desire Kabila. In a statement read out over Goma radio last night, the commander of the Goma-based 10th battalion, named as Sylvain Mbuchi, declared: "On behalf of government troops, we decry the regime of Laurent-Desire Kabila." "We the army of the DRC have taken the decision to remove President Laurent-Desire Kabila from power." The statement, monitored by news agencies, accused Kabila of "misrule, nepotism and corruption". It urged the Congolese people to remain calm and carry on their normal activities.
An announcement read out over Bukavu radio today by an unidentified person declared the Kivus would become an "autonomous zone, no longer part of the country", humanitarian sources told IRIN. Bukavu was reportedly calm today and the airport is so far still operating.
Meanwhile, Goma airport was today closed and people were requested to hand in any radio communication equipment, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) said in a despatch from the border town of Gisenyi. Humanitarian sources in Uvira told IRIN the situation there was quiet, but the borders at Uvira, Bukavu and Goma are all closed.
However, south of Uvira there was fighting in the Baraka, Fizi and Mboko areas, reportedly between Banyamulenge and Congolese soldiers, aid sources told IRIN. Heavy shooting - small arms and heavy machine guns - has also been confirmed in Kindu, the main town of Maniema province, since around 19:30 hours (local) last night.
Humanitarian organisations in Kinshasa and eastern DRC have been told to stay indoors and evacuation of non-essential staff is under consideration.
Shooting was reported in Kinshasa last night, and media reports said there had been clashes between Banyamulenge and other Congolese soldiers at the military camps of Tshatshi and Kokolo. UN sources in the city told IRIN Kinshasa was quiet today, with the military patrolling the streets. Government spokesman Didier Mumengi called on the people to stay calm and remain indoors. A three-day curfew was declared in Kinshasa to enable "combing" operations to go ahead, according to a government statement broadcast over state radio.
Nairobi, 3 August 1998, 13:20 GMT
[ENDS]
[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org for more information or subscriptions. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the WWW at: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha.unon.org. Mailing list: irin-cea-weekly]
From owner-irin-cea-weekly@ocha.unon.org Mon Aug 3
12:43:30 1998 Return-Path: <owner-irin-cea-weekly@ocha.unon.org>
Received: from siafu.iconnect.co.ke (root@siafu.iconnect.co.ke
[208.208.120.2])
by orion.sas.upenn.edu (8.8.8/8.8.8/SAS.04) with ESMTP
id MAA10000 for <aadinar@mail.sas.upenn.edu>;
Mon, 3 Aug 1998 12:42:50 -0400 (EDT) Received: from
uusasa by siafu.iconnect.co.ke with local (Exim 2.01
#1)
id 0z3Mlh-0003qT-00; Mon, 3 Aug 1998 18:43:25 +0300
Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ocha.unon.org
(8.6.12/8.6.12) id SAA14733; Mon, 3 Aug 1998 18:30:42
+0300 Message-Id: <3.0.32.19980803182758.007196d4@dha.unon.org>
Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 18:27:58 +0000 To: irin-cea-weekly@ocha.unon.org
From: IRIN - Central and Eastern Africa <irin@ocha.unon.org>
Subject: DRC: Situation confused as Banyamulenge take
over Bukavu radio 1998.8.3 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-irin-cea-weekly@dha.unon.org
Precedence: bulk X-URL: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc/greatlak/latest.html
Status: RO
DRC: Situation confused as Banyamulenge take over Bukavu radio 1998.8.3
NAIROBI, 3 August 1998 (IRIN) - There is still confusion over who exactly is behind the rebellion in eastern DRC. Official Banyamulenge sources in the region told IRIN "we have rejected the rule of Kabila", but it was not clear whether this was purely a Banyamulenge uprising or if other members of the Congolese armed forces were also involved.
Humanitarian sources in Bukavu said Radio Bukavu and a local development radio station known as Radio Maendeleo were in the hands of the Banyamulenge military, and numbers of them could be seen around the offices of both stations. However, according to the sources, non-Banyamulenge soldiers are circulating freely in town. Witnesses also report the presence of some Rwandan soldiers. Bukavu radio has said the current local athorities "are no longer recognised", the sources added. The statement announcing opposition to Kabila, broadcast on Goma radio, was also read out on Bukavu radio by Commander Birunga Kamanda. The Banyamulenge military also freed a number of prisoners from Bukavu jail.
Shooting was still heard in Kindu as of 16:30 (local time) today, local sources told IRIN. Unconfirmed reports said government soldiers in the town were rounding up Banyamulenge troops, disarming them and holding them at a central point.
According to a Munyamulenge NGO worker, the rebellion takes place amid increasing feelings of marginalisation by the Banyamulenge community after several of their civilian officials were sacked, the latest being the deputy administrator of Uvira Boniface Budederi. The source also told IRIN four Banyamulenge soldiers, including a commander, were ambushed and killed Saturday by other Congolese soldiers on the Baraka-Uvira road. He claimed the fighting "is a kind of secession. Congo is going to be divided". He expressed anxiety that the current situation "is going to steam up old problems".
Humanitarian sources in DRC told IRIN the fighting actually began on Saturday when clashes broke out in Baraka between Banyamulenge (and reportedly Rwandan) soldiers on one hand, and government troops on the other. The sources claim there is a "high concentration" of Rwandan troops in Minova town, between Bukavu and Goma. However, Rwandan military spokesman Emmanuel Ndahiro denied any Rwandans were still present in DRC.
Meanwhile, the two remaining Tutsi members of President Kabila's government are reported to have fled the country. Former Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) secretary-general, Deogratias Bugera, recently "demoted" to presidential affairs minister, according to analysts, is said to be in Belgium. Foreign Minister Bizima Karaha has also left DRC.
DRC state television today displayed a caption reading: "The enemy will not succeed. The entire Congolese people are behind their president, Mzee Laurent-Desire Kabila."
A night curfew, in place for the next three days, has been imposed in Kinshasa where shooting last night was described as "rather intense" by local residents. According to unconfirmed reports, the confrontation was initiated by Rwandan soldiers who were being transferred from Matadi in Bas-Congo province back to Rwanda. Diplomatic and missionary sources said there were "heavy casualties", with the dead bodies of DRC and Rwandan soldiers observed in parts of Kinshasa.
Tension increased after Kabila last week told all Rwandan soldiers in the country to leave. Officially 100 Rwandans returned home, but various sources put the number much higher. Humanitarian sources in Kinshasa told IRIN the media speculated at the time that a Rwandan plot to topple Kabila had been discovered.
Nairobi, 3 August 1998, 15:20 gmt
[ENDS]
[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org for more information or subscriptions. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the WWW at: http://www.reliefweb.int/ or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@ocha.unon.org. Mailing list: irin-cea-weekly]
Message-Id: <3.0.32.19980803160821.00b57f9c@dha.unon.org> Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 16:08:21 +0000 From: IRIN - Central and Eastern Africa <irin-sa@ocha.unon.org> Subject: DRC: Heavy fighting in east as army vows to topple Kabila 1998.8.3
Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D
| Previous Menu | Home Page | What's New | Search | Country Specific |