- Title: CONGO REPUBLIC: CIVIL WAR VICTOR DENIS SASSOU NGUESSO ARRIVES IN BRAZZAVILLE
- Date: 23rd October 1997
- Summary: OUTSKIRTS OF BRAZZAVILLE AND CENTRAL BRAZZAVILLE, CONGO REPUBLIC SCU ARMED SOLDIERS AND LINE OF CHEERING PEOPLE WAITING / MV CIVIL WAR VICTOR DENIS SASSOU NGUESSO ARRIVING AND WAVING TO PEOPLE (2 SHOTS) 0.10 SLV PEOPLE CHEERING (2 SHOTS) 0.20 SLV SASSOU SEATED 0.25 SLV PROSTRATE SUPPORTER WAVING BRANCHES 0.29 SCU SASSOU SAYING "WE HAVE THE CRIMINALS AND WON." (LINGALA - THE LOCAL DIALECT) 0.45 TRACKING CHEERING CROWD SEEN OVER SHOULDER OF ARMED SOLDIER 0.54 HAS TANK PAN RIGHT SASSOU GREETING CROWDS 1.01 MV SASSOU WAVING/GETTING INTO CAR (2 SHOTS) 1.16 SLV VEHICLE MOVES TOWARDS TOWN CENTRE CROWD OF CHEERING SUPPORTERS RUN AHEAD 1.24 MV SASSOU WAVING TO CROWDS/STANDS ON SMALL STAGE AND WAVES/SASSOU IN CAR LEAVING (4 SHOTS) 1.59 SLV CAR CARRYING SASSOU ARRIVING AT RESIDENCE/ SASSOU ALIGHTING FROM CAR AND WALKS TO RESIDENCE (3 SHOTS) 2.27 SLV SASSOU PRESS CONFERENCE 2.31 SCU SASSOU SAYING ITS A VERY EMOTIONAL MOMENT, THIS WHERE IT ALL STARTED " (FRENCH) 2.43 SCU PRESSER/SCU SASSOU SPEAKING ABOUT A TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT, SAYING WE DO NOT NOW HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE. THE PEOPLE WILL DECIDE (FRENCH) (2 SHOTS) 3.09 SLV SASSOU WALKING AROUND RESIDENCE 3.14 Initials S2/3 P3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th November 1997 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: OUTSKIRTS OF BRAZZAVILLE AND CENTRAL BRAZZAVILLE, CONGO REPUBLIC
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
- Topics: Conflict,General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAWVQVNNOCKR1N7AE3PRWT1TZ6
- Story Text: 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 Thursday (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 Saturday, promised a transitional government of national unity but was vague on its duration.
"We will form a government of national unity, a transition government whose period (in office) will be decided by the Congolese people," he told cheering supporters.
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 last Wednesday, 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 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".
Sassou arrived in a 20-vehicle convoy led by his civil war commander, General Jean-Marie Tassoua.
"We have fought against the criminal and we have won," he said to loud cheers and applause from an estimated 600 supporters.
Sassou's arrival in the capital was delayed because of security and political considerations, regional sources said.
A rival militia on Wednesday 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.
Sassou will formally take the reins of power in the capital on Saturday.Sassou aides said he had sent invitations to neighbouring governments. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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