ZAIRE/KENYA : REBEL SKIRMISHES WITH GOVERNMENT TROOPS

Record ID: 682689

  • Title: ZAIRE/KENYA : REBEL SKIRMISHES WITH GOVERNMENT TROOPS
  • Date: 13th February 1997
  • Summary: UVIRA, ZAIRE (RECENT) (RTV) SV ZAIREAN REBEL SOLDIERS WAVE GUNS IN THE AIR AND SING BATTLE SONGS AND ULULATE SCU/SLV ZAIREAN REBEL LEADER LAURENT KABILA AT RALLY / AUDIENCE WATCHING (3 SHOTS) SV MORE OF REBEL SOLDIERS AT RALLY 0.44 KISANGANI, ZAIRE (RECENT) (RTV) SV UNIDENTIFIED OFFICIALS MEETING AND SHAKING HANDS 1.03 GV/LV STREET SCENES (4 SHOTS) 1.29 SV FOREIGN MERCENARIES TRAINING ZAIREAN GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS (4 SHOTS) 2.04 GV ZAIREAN ARMY HELICOPTERS AT AIRPORT 2.20 SV PILOT CLIMBS INTO ZAIREAN ARMY HELICOPTER / HELICOPTER IN FLIGHT (3 SHOTS) 2.49 NEAR PUNIA, ZAIRE (RECENT) (RTV) GV/LV RWANDAN HUTU REFUGEES ON THE ROAD HEADING NORTH TOWARDS KISANGANI (2 SHOTS) 2.58 NAIROBI, KENYA (MARCH 13, 1997) (RTV) SCU REGIONAL POLITICAL ANALYST SETH SENDASHONGA SPEAKING ABOUT SUGGESTIONS OF AN INTERNATIONAL MILITARY OPERATION TO SAVE REFUGEES (ENGLISH) 3.13 UBUNDU, ZAIRE (MARCH 12, 1997) (RTV) SLV RWANDAN HUTU REFUGEES AT NEW CAMP SITE (4 SHOTS) 3.32 NAIROBI, KENYA (MARCH 13, 1997) (RTV) SCU UNCHR REGIONAL SPOKESMAN PETER KESSLER SPEAKING ABOUT IMPLICATIONS ON REFUGEE SITUATION IF KISANGANI FALLS (ENGLISH) 3.47 GOMA, ZAIRE (RECENT) (RTV) LV ZAIREAN REBEL RECRUITS MARCHING THROUGH TOWN AS LOCAL PEOPLE CHEER ON /PEOPLE FOLLOW TROOPS (3 SHOTS) 4.07 NAIROBI, KENYA (MARCH 13, 1997) (RTV) SCU SENDASHONGA SPEAKING ABOUT IMPLICATIONS FOR MOBUTU AND OPPOSITION TO HIM IF KISANGANI FALLS (ENGLISH) 4.24 BUKAVU, ZAIRE (RECENT) (RTV) SCU ZAIREAN REBEL SOLDIERS AT RALLY, SINGING 4.40 Initials S3 P2
  • Embargoed: 28th February 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VARIOUS, ZAIRE/ NAIROBI, KENYA
  • City:
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Conflict,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9A7WUQ5A8UIVCF4GFQLZLMR99
  • Story Text: Rebels trying to take Zaire's garrison city of Kisangani have reported skirmishes with government troops in a prelude to what is expected to be the biggest showdown of the five-month-old civil war.
    Rebel leader Laurent Kabila's soldiers have so far met little resistance from Zairean government forces. Highly motivated and well disciplined, the rebels have captured town after town in the east of the country and now control a vast stretch of territory, some 1,400 km (868 miles) long.
    The capture of Kisangani by Kabila's forces would be a huge blow to the regime of ailing president Mubuto Sese Seko. Mubuto, who spends much of his time in France where he is receiving treatment for prostrate cancer.
    So far, he has been unable to organise an effective counter offensive and stop the rebel advance.
    To prevent the city's military collapse, hundreds of foreign mercenaries have been deployed to train government soldiers and instill discipline in the ranks.
    With the prospect of a major battle for Kisangani drawing closer, international concern has once again focused on the plight of tens of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees who have thus far fled the rebel advance, leaving camps further south and heading north towards the city.
    France has called for military intervention to help the refugees. But regional obeservers say the international community missed it's chance when it backed out of sending a force at the end of last year.
    "It's probably less justified now than it was three months ago.
    In my opinion, whoever wants to help refugees without seeming to be propping up Mobutu, should have a clear course of action", said Seth Sendashonga, a former Rwandan minister and regional political observer.
    For many of the refugees Kisangani represents the end of the road. Poor roads and the city's jungle surroundings mean most of the refugees will be stranded at or near the city itself.
    United Nations (U.N.) refugee agency officials say the fall of Kisangani, in the short-term at least, would be disasterous for their relief operations.
    UNHCR's regional spokesman Peter Kessler believes the fall of the city would inevitably disrupt the supplies of food and medicine to the refugees. "Right now our staff in Kisangani are delivering supplies. And we hope that if Kisangani falls then the rebels would allow us access to the refugees and we hope that we would be able to later coax them back to Rwanda", said Kessler.
    On the political front, the capture of Kisangani by the rebels is likely to to signal the end of the Mobutu regime. "The fall of Kisangani will open up a lot of new avenues. Up until now the political opposition (in Kinshasa) have not called for the removal of him (Mobutu) from power", said Sendashonga, adding that once the city fell the political map was likely to change.
    With countrywide support growing for the rebels and Mobutu's rejection of all compromise with Kabila and the opposition in Kinshasa, the prospects of a negotiated end to the conflict look bleak.
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