D.R.CONGO: CONGOLESE SECURITY FORCES PUT DOWN AN ATTEMPTED COUP BY DISSIDENTS IN PRESIDENT KABILA'S PERSONAL GUARD

Record ID: 648805

  • Title: D.R.CONGO: CONGOLESE SECURITY FORCES PUT DOWN AN ATTEMPTED COUP BY DISSIDENTS IN PRESIDENT KABILA'S PERSONAL GUARD
  • Date: 11th June 2004
  • Summary: (U3) KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (JUNE 11, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF KINSHASA WITH SOUNDS OF EXPLOSION 0.07 2. HEAVILY ARMED CONGOLESE SOLDIERS IN STREET 0.17 3. ARMED JEEP DRIVING THROUGH STREET AT SPEED 0.20 4. ARMOURED CONGOLESE VEHICLE DRIVING PAST 0.30 5. UNITED NATIONS SOLDIERS IN ARMOURED VEHICLE (2 SHOTS) 0.47 6. CONGOLESE SOLDIER ARMED IN STREET 0.54 7. MUNUC SOLDIERS, CONGOLESE TANK IN STREET (2 SHOTS) 1.08 8. PEOPLE WATCHING 1.12 9. TANKS IN POSITION IN STREET (2 SHOTS) 1.27 (W6) KINSHASA, DRC (JUNE 11, 2004) (REUTERS) 10. SOUNDBITE (French) LAURENT KABILA, PRESIDENT OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO ON TELEVISION, SAYING: "About a dozen dissenters have been arrested. He (Eric Lenge) himself has not yet been brought under our control but of course the objective is to bring him under our control as soon as possible. It is necessary for the institutions and the population to continue their work. The institutions are in place, the president is in place, the government, the parliament is in place, the transitional institutions are in place. People must remain calm and vigilant and prepare themselves for resistance because I will not permit anyone to carry out a coup d'etat or derail the workings of the state, the current transitional process." 2.41 (W6) KINSHASA, DRC (JUNE 11, 2004) (REUTERS) 11. HAS: CONGOLESE ARMY TRUCK PASSING STREET IN EMBASSY AREA 2.50 12. HAS: CONGOLESE ARMOURED VEHICLE TAKING POSITION UNDER TREE 3.00 13. VARIOUS STREET SCENES IN MATONGE AREA WITH TRAFFIC JAM (2 SHOTS) 3.10 14. NEWSPAPER SELLER SELLING PAPERS 3.17 15. CU: NEWSPAPER HEADLINES / PEOPLE LOOKING AT PAPERS (2 SHOTS) 3.28 16. SOUNDBITE: (French) STUDENT TITI GABRIELLE SAYING: "The president is telling us about a coup attempt by Eric (Lenge) to take the power but I know it is not true, it is all organised by our president so he must resign. We don't need him. It is all lies". 3.48 17. VARIOUS STREET SCENES (2 SHOTS) 3.59 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
  • City:
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Reuters ID: LVA9J7X2GS0JSP2PTOQJ7HO7LPBN
  • Story Text: A coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo
    appears to have been put down.


    Congo's government said on Friday (June 11) its
    security forces had put down an attempted coup by
    dissidents in President Joseph Kabila's personal guard.

    Shortly after dawn, explosions and artillery fire
    echoed across the sprawling capital and residents reported
    automatic gunfire in several districts. The shooting later
    died down.

    The coup's alleged ringleader, identified as Major Eric
    Lenge and members of Kabila's guard seized the state radio
    overnight but the government said loyal troops quickly
    retook it. No obvious damage was visible to the station's
    buildings and, by mid-morning, there was no unusual
    military presence in the streets. Lenge broadcast a
    message saying the transitional process had no future and
    that he was taking control himself.

    Security forces surrounded Lenge near the capital's
    airport but Kasongo said he managed to escape with a group
    of insurgents after his attempt to "destabilise the
    government".

    Lenge, fled the capital Kinshasa and was being chased
    south by the army after he briefly seized state radio
    overnight, presidential spokesman Kudura Kasongo said.

    Kabila, who came to power in 2001 after his father
    Laurent was shot dead by one of his bodyguards, went on
    state television to say he was in charge and appeal for
    calm hours after explosions, artillery rounds and gunfire
    shook Kinshasa.

    "The institutions of the republic are in place. The
    president himself, he is in place," Kabila, dressed in a
    military uniform, said in a recorded interview.

    "The population must remain calm and vigilant," he
    said. A dozen insurgents, members of his own guard, had
    been arrested.

    Kabila, whose government includes former rebels, vowed
    nobody would be allowed to threaten the country's peace
    process.

    Some analysts and locals said the attempted coup may
    have been staged by hardliners in the president's camp to
    underline his grip on power after a turbulent week.

    Student Titi Gabrielle said: "The president is telling
    us about a coup attempt by Eric (Lenge) to take the power
    but I know it is not true, it is all organised by our
    president so he must resign. We don't need him. It is all
    lies".

    The U.N. mission in the country said in a statement it
    had stepped-up security around the residencies of the
    president and four vice-presidents and increased patrols in
    Kinshasa. It called on the renegade troops to lay down
    their arms.

    The apparent coup attempt in the vast central African
    country, the second in less than three months, was the
    latest challenge to the transition government, set up last
    year to try to draw a line under five years of civil war.

    Last week, renegade soldiers seized the eastern city of
    Bukavu in a blow to the shaky peace process. Government
    troops recaptured the town on Wednesday.



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