- Title: ZAIRE: AUTHORITIES CLOSE TWO UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES
- Date: 11th November 1996
- Summary: KINSHASA, ZAIRE (NOVEMBER 11, 1996) (RTV(W) - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV MAN PUTTING UP NOTICES IN STREET 0.05 2. CU PEOPLE READING NOTICES/ CU NOTICE (FRENCH) 0.12 3. TRAVEL SHOT/ SV CLOSED SHOPS (2 SHOTS) 0.26 4. LV DESERTED MARKET PLACE 0.29 5. LV EXTERIOR OF CHURCH 0.36 6. LV STUDENTS INSIDE CHURCH YARD 0.45 7.
- Embargoed: 26th November 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KINSHASA, ZAIRE
- City:
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
- Reuters ID: LVAEVSJOCE682CD8NKKSZ4G0IT6K
- Story Text: INTRO: Violent protests about the government's handling of a Tutsi rebellion flared in Zaire after the authorities closed two university campuses.
Shops, petrol stations and some businesses closed, fearing further trouble in the Zaire capital Kinshasa.
Some closed after protestors called for a stoppage in support of their demonstrations.
Troops forced students from their beds in the dead of night and smashed roadblocks the students had erected in parts of the capital for the past week, the witnesses said.
The government last week ordered the closure of the campuses of the Institute of Applied Technology and the Institute of Commerce.
Hundreds of troops from the civil guard and police moved in at 3.
a.m. and scattered students into the night.
By daybreak the crumbling residence halls and lecture rooms were deserted apart from soldiers on guard outside.
Jean d'Oliveira, a public relations consultant, said many of the students were from outside Kinshasa and had no homes to go to.
They had gathered with their belongings at a cathedral in the town.
Student leader Steve Mbikayi said the government's closure of the colleges was illegitimate because even the professors and lecturers were no longer paid by the bankrupt state.
Student violence, including the hijacking of private cars and other vehicles, has left the sprawling city of more than five million people without transport.
Student protesters have targeted Tutsi property and accused the government of doing too little to help the army, which has lost control of a string of towns in the eastern refugee provinces, including Goma and Bukavu.
Zaire accuses Tutsi-led Rwanda of fomenting the revolt in the east and of invading its territory. Rwanda, which had accused Rwandan Hutu hardliners of using the region as a springboard for raids into its territory, denies the charge.
Banyamulenge Tutsis have overwhelmed the Zaire army in two provinces bordering Rwanda since fighting erupted on October 18.
About 1.2 million Rwandan and Burundian refugees in camps and hundreds of thousands of Zairean villagers have been displaced.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None