Belgian bodyguards suffer Congo 'humiliation'

Michel met Kabila's son in an atmosphere described as icy

Two Belgian bodyguards have been forced to kneel and disarm while accompanying Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel on a visit to DR Congo.

The two men were freed after several hours, but the incident happened amid reports of growing anti-Western feeling.

There is an anti-Western feeling which in Congo translates into an anti-American and anti-Belgian feeling

Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman

In a separate incident, a bus carrying Belgian journalists was attacked as it drove through crowds of mourners towards the presidential palace.

Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Malherbe said Mr Michel had been travelling to the funeral of murdered President Laurent Kabila when the incident involving his bodyguards took place.

Belgian media reports said they were seized after one of them accidentally brushed against a Zimbabwean security official.

Journalists under attack claimed police were slow to respond

After being forced to kneel on the ground, the two men were taken from the scene to prison.

Mr Michel reportedly insisted he would not leave the country without them, and they were eventually set free that evening.

One Belgian newspaper carried a photograph of one of the bodyguards kneeling before soldiers, under the headline "Belgium Humiliated in Congo".

The attack on the bus happened later the same day.

A reporter on board, Hubert Leclercq of La Derniere Heure newspaper, described the journalists' terror as an angry mob in Kinshasa pelted their vehicle with missiles, smashing a window and and eventually forced their way through the doors as the journalists fought to keep them out.

The crowd shouted "Go home" and "White killers", he reported.

Belongings including cash, credit cards and computers were stolen before the police eventually moved in.

Laurent Kabila: Gunned down in his office

"There is an anti-Western feeling which in Congo translates into an anti-American and anti-Belgian feeling," said Mr Malherbe.

Plans to evacuate the estimated 2,500 Belgian citizens who live in Congo have been drawn up, although officials are stressing the move is precautionary.

Military teams have been flown to the region in case the evacuation goes ahead.

'Technical' problem

Mr Malherbe denied that the bodyguards' detention was being viewed as a serious incident.

"It was a communications problem, a misunderstanding of a technical nature," he said.

Belgium, the former colonial power, was the only Western nation to send a minister to the President Kabila's funeral.

It was also the first to officially announce his death, long before the news was confirmed by Kinshasa.