- Title: ZAIRE: REBELS PREPARE FOR FINAL OFFENSIVE
- Date: 12th April 1997
- Summary: LUBUMBASHI, ZAIRE (APRIL 13, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SCU LUBUMBASHI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT/SIGN 0.09 2. SLV/SCU/SLV TRUCK/BODIES OF ZAIREAN GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS KILLED IN FIGHTING FOR THE AIRPORT/ REBEL SOLDIER ON AIRPORT TOWER (7 SHOTS) 0.36 3. SLV /PAN PILES OF UNIFORMS ABANDONED BY GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS/AMMUNITION ON GROUND (2 SHOTS) 0.45 4. SCU AMMUNITION AND PAPER MONEY ON GROUND 0.49 5. SV REBEL SOLDIERS AT AIRPORT 0.51 6. LV AEROPLANE TAKING OFF (CARRYING BELGIAN WOMAN (UNIDENTIFIED) RESIDENT IN LUBUMBASHI, WHO WAS INJURED BY SHRAPNEL - BEING EVACUATED TO BELGIUM) 0.59 7. SCU POSTER 1.04 8. SLV SOLDIERS/ABANDONED WEAPONS - INCLUDING HEAVY MACHINE GUN, CANNON MOUNTED ON A JEEP (3 SHOTS) 1.26 LUBUMBASHI, ZAIRE (APRIL 12, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 9. SLV/SCU PAN COMPOUND OF LIDO BARRACKS IN LUBUMBASHI WITH SOLDIERS OF THE FORMER 21ST ZAIREAN ARMY BATTALION (BASED IN LIDO BARRACKS) IN COMPOUND, ALL SURRENDERED,ALL IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES, BEING SCREENED BY REBEL OFFICERS BEFORE BEING ALLOWED TO JOIN REBEL FORCES. (7 SHOTS) 2.10 10. SLV FORMER ZAIREAN COLONEL KINENE NSIMBA, 54, BROUGHT OUT OF HIS CELL IN BARRACKS TO BE SHOWN TO MEDIA. (2 SHOTS) 2.23 11. SCU REBEL GUARD WITH GUN 2.31 12. SCU YOUNG MAN LOOKS ON 2.35 13. SCU NSIMBA'S FEET TILT UP 2.45 14. SLV REBELS SORTING WEAPONS LEFT AT BARRACKS/ AMMUNITION ON GROUND (5 SHOTS) 3.07 15. SLV / PAN WEAPONS ON DISPLAY (2 SHOTS) 3.24 16. SLV COLUMN OF REBEL SOLDIERS ON PATROL, MOVING THROUGH SOUTHERN SUBURBS OF LUBUMBASHI (3 SHOTS) 3.53 Initials S2/1 P2 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 27th April 1997 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LUBUMBASHI, ZAIRE
- City:
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
- Reuters ID: LVA63F20N9ZEM8S3ZMEKBMPXJFAF
- Story Text: - INTRO: Zairean rebels are preparing for a final offensive against President Mobutu Sese Seko. They say they've given him the opportunity to stand down and he hasn't taken it.
At the airport serving Zaire's second city,Lubumbashi, on Sunday (April 13) the bodies of government soldiers lie scattered in the grass and on the tarmac.
They offered little resistance to the rebel forces whomarched into town. Weapons and military vehicles were abandoned as the rebels easily took control of the area.
Soldiers who surrendered were stripped of their uniforms. Many are now believed to have pledged their support for rebel leader Laurent Kabila whose men command nearly half the entire country after less than six months of fighting.
The pressure is growing daily on Zaire's President Mobutu Sese Seko to quit. The man he sent to Lubumbashi to defend the city Colonel Kinene Nsimba of the elite Presidential Guard, was captured when he strayed into rebel-held territory.
On Sunday he was paraded in front of the cameras, barefoot and in dirty civilian clothes, by armed rebels.
Mobutu has been Zaire's ruler since 1965 but is also battling cancer. His collapsing army has been unable to check the rebel offensive that began near Zaire's eastern border last October.
The rebels have amassed large caches of weapons and ammunition and it seems nothing is going to stop them taking over the rest of the country.
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