DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Dozens killed after Congo army repells attacks in Kinshasa

Record ID: 860191

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Dozens killed after Congo army repells attacks in Kinshasa
  • Date: 30th December 2013
  • Summary: KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DECEMBER 30, 2013) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BODIES ON GROUND BEHIND THE DEFENCE MINISTRY
  • Embargoed: 14th January 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Congo, The Democratic Republic of the
  • City:
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA3K9Z3V2UG1A21E0BW3CT25IWO
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Dozens of people were killed after Congolese soldiers repulsed attacks on the airport, a barracks and the state television headquarters in Kinshasa on Monday (December 30) in what authorities said appeared to have been an assault by followers of religious leader Paul Joseph Mukungubila.
    Several bodies lay on the ground at the entrance and behind the building of the Ministry of Defence in Kinshasa, after it was attacked on Monday.
    Witnesses also reported shooting at the Tshatshi military camp, close to the Defence Ministry, and at the international airport on the city's outskirts.
    Before transmission was shut down at the state television, gunmen shouted what appeared to be a political message against President Joseph Kabila, who took office in 2001 after the assassination of his father Laurent.
    Government spokesman Lambert Mende said 40 of the 70 assailants in the capital had been killed, adding the government had "total control of the situation."
    Mukungubila, who calls himself 'The prophet of the Eternal', ran unsuccessfully for the presidency against Kabila in 2006.
    Opponents of Kabila, who was educated in Tanzania and Uganda, often accuse him of being a foreigner in an attempt to tarnish his reputation.
    Mukungubila has been an outspoken critic of a peace deal signed this month with the Tutsi-led M23 rebel group in eastern Congo, accusing Kabila's government of bowing to Tutsi interests and pressure from neighbouring Rwanda.
    Kabila's supporters said the assault was carried out by poorly organised youths in civilian clothing with aged military equipment and appeared to be more a political statement than a serious attempt to seize power in a city of more than 9 million people.
    The Democratic Republic of Congo, a vast country at the heart of Africa, is struggling to emerge from decades of violence and instability, particularly in its mineral-rich east, in which millions of people have died, mostly from hunger and disease.
    The country is home to a 21,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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