- Title: CONGO: REBELS PUSH CLOSER TO KINSHASA
- Date: 15th August 1998
- Summary: INGA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (AUGUST 16, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV REBEL SOLDIERS SINGING AND RUNNING DOWN STREET 0.09 2. SV SOLDIERS WITH WEAPONS SINGING AND RUNNING TO PARADE GROUND 0.13 3. REBEL COMMANDER DIEUTONNE KABENGELE ARRIVING 0.19 4. SV REBELS SINGING AND DANCING/OTHER APPLAUD (4 SHOTS) 0.48 5. SCU KABENGELE ADDRESSING TROOPS SAYING, "WAR IS LIKE A DREAM WHICH MUST COME TRUE AND WE ARE FIGHTING FOR A REALITY." (FRENCH/LOCAL DIALECT) 1.08 6. SV REBELS ON ROAD (3 SHOTS) 1.20 7. SV STORAGE TANKS AT PETROL REFINERY, REBELS DRIVE PAST 1.27 8. SV DAM FOR HYDROELECTRIC POWER, REBEL TROOPS ON ROAD 1.32 9. SCU KABENGELE STANDING IN FRONT OF DAM WALL SAYING, "GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE" (FRENCH) 1.48 10. SV DAM WALL (2 SHOTS) 1.55 GOMA, D.R. CONGO (AUGUST 15, 1998)(RTV - ACCESS ALL) 11. SV BORDER POST WITH RWANDA AT GOMA (2 SHOTS) 2.05 12. SV ANTI-KABILA DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING CARRYING BANNERS (3 SHOTS) 2.22 13. SV ARMED SECURITY AT ROADSIDE 2.27 14. SV MORE MARCHERS 2.33 15. SV ARMED SOLDIERS WALKING BEHIND DEMONSTRATORS 2.46 16. SV CHILD SOLDIERS 2.53 17. SV SOLDIERS WALKING IN THE STREET (4 SHOTS) 3.11 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 30th August 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: INGA AND GOMA, DEM. REP. CONGO
- City:
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
- Reuters ID: LVA8Z9AJANNIY9KLD43VVNQJ6RK
- Story Text: Rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said on Monday they were pushing closer to Kinshasa, and President Laurent Kabila flew to Harare for talks with the defence ministers of Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Rebel commander Dieudonne Kabengele said frontline rebel forces had taken the town of Songololo after a brief fight late on Sunday night.
The fall of Songololo, if confirmed, would bring the rebels closer to Mbanza Ngungu, the last major town before Kinshasa and only about 150 km (90 miles) southwest of the capital.
On Sunday, Kabengele spoke to Reuters from his stronghold at Inga.Near the rebel frontline, Inga has an Italian-built hydro-electric dam now under the control of heavily-armed rebel troops on the newly formed Congolese Democratic Coalition.
At an airfield nearby, several hundred rebels sang war songs, danced and chanted slogans derogatory of embattled President Laurent Kabila whom they accuse of corruption, nepotism, mismanagement and lack of a clear political programme for Africa's third largest country.
In the eastern town of Goma on Saturday hundreds of local residents paraded through the streets in support of rebels seeking the ouster of president Laurent Kabila.
The colourful march in support of the rebels was reminiscent of similar scenes in the same town more than a year ago when Kabila launched his insurrection against Sese Seko Mabuto.
Marchers carried banners denouncing Kabila for nepotism, financial mismanagement of the economy and being dictatorial, the same accusation that were levelled against Mobutu in the past.
A government official said on Monday that Kabila, who is also defence minister, was travelling to Zimbabwe's capital Harare for the talks.These follow his discussions in Angola on Sunday with its president, Eduardo dos Santos, and Namibia's President Sam Nujoma.
Kabila accuses former allies Rwanda and Uganda, who helped him oust veteran dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in May 1997, of invading and fighting alongside ethnic Tutsi and other rebels who took up arms in the east on August 2.
Soldiers from Congo's ethnic Tutsi minority launched the rebellion on August 2 in the eastern town of Goma.The rebels then opened a second front in the west in the strategic Congo River corridor linking the capital to the sea.
Rwanda and Uganda deny Kabila's accusations against them, but independent sources say that Rwandan forces are clearly involved in the latest revolt.
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