Kabila, Bemba soldiers clash
Aug 22, 2006
KINSHASA, Tuesday – Gunbattles shook Congo’s capital Kinshasa for a third day on Tuesday as the United Nations and foreign leaders pressed President Joseph Kabila and an election rival to halt fighting between their feuding forces.
KINSHASA, Tuesday – Gunbattles shook Congo’s capital Kinshasa for a third day on Tuesday as the United Nations and foreign leaders pressed President Joseph Kabila and an election rival to halt fighting between their feuding forces.
Violence has rocked the riverside capital since Sunday when electoral officials announced that a presidential election run-off would be held in October between Kabila and his vice-president, former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba.
The announcement followed historic but inconclusive July 30 polls, which were the first free polls in more than four decades in the vast, war-scarred former Belgian colony.
Battles broke out again on Tuesday between soldiers loyal to Kabila and armed Bemba supporters near where UN and European peacekeepers had on Monday rescued a group of ambassadors to the Democratic Republic of Congo who had been trapped by clashes.
Each side blamed the other of starting the fighting and said they were responding to attacks.
But diplomats said it appeared some fighters from both sides were out of control and turning on their political rivals. A Reuters correspondent heard small arms fire and saw two tanks moving in the direction of the clashes.
Violence has rocked the riverside capital since Sunday when electoral officials announced that a presidential election run-off would be held in October between Kabila and his vice-president, former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba.
The announcement followed historic but inconclusive July 30 polls, which were the first free polls in more than four decades in the vast, war-scarred former Belgian colony.
Battles broke out again on Tuesday between soldiers loyal to Kabila and armed Bemba supporters near where UN and European peacekeepers had on Monday rescued a group of ambassadors to the Democratic Republic of Congo who had been trapped by clashes.
Each side blamed the other of starting the fighting and said they were responding to attacks.
But diplomats said it appeared some fighters from both sides were out of control and turning on their political rivals. A Reuters correspondent heard small arms fire and saw two tanks moving in the direction of the clashes.