- Title: Congo Republic: Civil War VIctor Denis Sassou Nguesso Arrives In BrazzaVIlle
- Date: 23rd October 1997
- Summary: Congo Republic's civil war victor Denis Sassou Nguesso has arrived in Brazzaville, the bombed-out capital, and vilified ousted president Pascal Lissouba as a "criminal and enemy of the people".Sassou, who overthrew democratically-elected president Pascal Lissouba last week, arrived in Brazzaville from his northern village of Oyo on October 23. Sassou's first stop on his way to Brazzaville was at Kintele, 30 km (20 miles) from the city centre. There, he thanked the people for "supporting the war and chasing away the enemy. The 54-year-old former Marxist military ruler, who is due to be inaugurated as president on October 25 promised a transitional government of national unity but was vague on its duration. Sassou, who previously ruled this Central African oil producing nation for over a decade, was greeted by chanting supporters and hundreds of his Cobra militia. Soldiers from the Angolan army, which helped propel Sassou to power, checked his route into Brazzaville while others stood guard at strategic positions in the city. Angolan intervention, with tanks and Russian-built MiG fighter bombers, smashed a weak and comparatively poorly equipped government army and allied militias. Political and security analysts say Sassou, a northerner from a minority tribe, will need Angolan help to hold onto power. Sassou's power struggle with Lissouba, who was the country's first democratically president and is now exiled in Burkina Faso, killed thousands of Congolese. His forces and their Angolan allies took control of the political capital Brazzaville and Pointe Noire last week. Sassou's arrival in the capital was delayed because of security and political considerations, regional sources said. A rival militia killed 17 of Sassou's Cobra forces in an ambush as they tried to clean up pockets of resistance from forces loyal to Lissouba and his ousted prime minister Bernard Kolelas.
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- Location: CONGO REPUBLIC
- Reuters ID: LDL00127CPQW7
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