![]() ![]() ![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() Wednesday, August 26, 1998 Published at 15:34 GMT 16:34 UK ![]() ![]() World: Africa ![]() Curfew in Kinshasa ![]() The government say troops are conducting "mopping-up operations" ![]()
Kinshasa itself is reported calm although government troops have been deployed in helicopters, tanks and armoured vehicles and have set-up roadblocks in the centre.
The airport is heavily defended by government troops in addition to Zimbabwean troops who arrived on Tuesday.
It reported many casualties. A senior rebel leader said his forces were inside Kinshasa and controlled parts of the city.
Rebel forces fighting to overthrow President Kabila have been trying to advance on Kinshasa, but in recent days have reportedly been forced back by troops from Zimbabwe and Angola supporting the Congolese Government. The joint forces of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Congo are said to be in Kinshasa while Angolan troops are said to be advancing from the west. The government announced on Tuesday the Western towns of Matadi, Kitona, Moanda, Boma and Banana, had been recaptured. "Thousands of prisoners and hundreds of dead and wounded people are clear evidence of the fierceness of the clashes," the information minister said.
This has left rebel fighters facing a squeeze and may explain a possible attempt to push forward to the capital. Unconfirmed reports from security sources say the rebels are trying to break out of the western corridor of fighting to sweep around Kinshasa. Kabila back in Kinshasa Mr Kabila returned to Kinshasa on Tuesday from his Lubumbashi stronghold in the south-east. He arrived after a week away in a confident mood saying victory was now certain. The Zimbabwean military had earlier given its first account of the fighting, saying its airforce helped destroy a five-kilometre column of rebel tanks and armoured cars in the west of the country. Aid supplies from Italy are due in Kinshasa, in an attempt to ease the impact of the war on the city's civilian population. They are expected to arrive from neighbouring Brazzaville on Wednesday. If you are in Kinshasa, please send us your eyewitness accounts. Please include details of your name and phone number.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]()
![]()
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |