REPUBLIC OF CONGO: CONGO REPUBLIC ARMY SHELL OPPOSITION MILITIA TARGETS ON SOUTHWESTERN OUTSKIRTS OF CAPITAL BRAZZAVILLE

Record ID: 648035

  • Title: REPUBLIC OF CONGO: CONGO REPUBLIC ARMY SHELL OPPOSITION MILITIA TARGETS ON SOUTHWESTERN OUTSKIRTS OF CAPITAL BRAZZAVILLE
  • Date: 1st January 1999
  • Summary: BRAZZAVILLE, REPUBLIC OF CONGO (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (RECENT) 1. GV'S SMOKE RISING OVER BRAZZAVILLE (5 SHOTS) 0.30 (FILE) (OCTOBER 12, 1997) 2. MV/TRACK SOLDIERS OF SASSOU'S COBRA MILITIA POSING WITH GUNS AND ADVANCING THROUGH WAR DAMAGED STREETS OF BRAZZAVILLE (2 SHOTS) 0.51 3. MV DAMAGED TANK- TRACKING SHOTS DAMAGED STREETS, DAMAGED BUILDINGS (2 SHOTS) 1.09 (FILE) 4. MV/LV DAMAGED BUILDINGS AND RUBBLE IN STREETS 1.18 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th January 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BRAZZAVILLE, REPUBLIC OF CONGO
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Reuters ID: LVA7JDKLG2SI2Q26YXQZB4WK166I
  • Story Text: The Congo Republic's army shelled opposition militia
    targets on the southwestern outskirts of the capital
    Brazzaville overnight, two days after blocking their attempt
    to enter the city, officials and witnesses said.

    Brazzaville was reported to be calm on Monday (January
    25) with shops, offices and businesses operating normally.

    State television said at the weekend that Ninja militiamen
    loyal to ousted Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas had been pushed
    back from the city on Thursday and Friday after fighting in
    the southern suburbs, once Kolelas strongholds.

    Witnesses reported government shelling overnight on Sunday
    at Linzolo, a suburb 15 km (nine miles) from the city, after
    two days of intermittent shelling and machinegun fire.

    The latest fighting led to an exodus of 15,000 civilians
    from the southern suburbs to the north of the capital, which
    has been spared the clashes.

    Kolelas, a veteran opposition leader, rallied to
    then-President Pascal Lissouba during a brief 1997 civil war
    shortly before former military ruler Denis Sassou Nguesso
    ousted Lissouba with the help of Angola.

    Forces loyal to Sassou deployed in the southern suburbs of
    Makelekele and Bacongo in December, triggering fighting which
    killed hundreds of people.Sassou's government described the
    move as a drive against bandits and looters.

    Kolelas supporters accuse pro-Sassou forces of killing
    civilians opposed to him in the southern suburbs.

    Militia fighters loyal to Lissouba have deprived the
    economic and oil capital Pointe Noire and adjoining southern
    parts of the former French colony of most of their electricity
    for almost three weeks.

    Travellers reaching the capital on Monday said that
    supplies were cut after Lissouba loyalists took control of the
    Moukoukoulou hydroelectric dam.They added that the town was
    also experiencing water supply problems.

    The travellers said that the state power company was using
    an old power station to provide limited supplies to different
    parts of the town on a rotational basis.

    The travellers said that pro-Lissouba militia also
    attacked a train which left Dolisie on Friday to carry out
    work on the line.The train, attacked at Madingou in the
    Bouenza region, was protected by security forces.Bouenza is a
    Lissouba stronghold.

    Two people were killed in the incident and four wounded.

    Opposition fighters seized the Moukoukoulou dam, which is
    400 km (250 miles) south west of Brazzaville, in April last
    year.On that occasion, the government negotiated a return of
    the dam to its control.
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