WEDNESDAY, 4.00PM
AS the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa buried the 21 people killed by misdirected shells from the civil war in neighbouring Brazzaville, DRC soldiers bombarded Brazzaville on Wednesday in an apparent reprisal.
Artillerymen from the Tshasi military camp in western Kinshasa opened fire with multiple rocket-launchers, which had been deployed along the bank of the Congo River separating the two capitals.
Officials in Kinshasa said at the funeral ceremony that 17 people were killed by shellfire from Brazzaville on Monday, and a further four on Tuesday. More gunfire could be heard early Wednesday, but it was unclear whether it came from Brazzaville or from Kinshasa.
The shelling of Kinshasa prompted DRC President Laurent Kabila to cut short a state visit to Zambia and rush home to proclaim a national day of mourning.
The conflict in Brazzaville began in June when Congo President Pascal Lissouba sent troops to disarm the militia of his rival, former dictator Denis Sassou Nguesso, prior to presidential elections scheduled for the end of July, but subsequently indefinitely postponed. At least 4 000 people have been killed in the fighting and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. Both sides blame each other for the shells fired on Kinshasa.
Authorities in Kinshasa, where some witnesses said they saw at least one powerful cannon directly firing on them from Brazzaville, have warned of reprisals. DRC Foreign Minister Bizima Karaha also warned of reprisals. Earlier similar incidents have drawn return fire from Kinshasa.
Attending a United Nations General Assembly session in New York, Karaha warned on Monday: “We have all means of stopping this shelling at the source and, if this provocation continues, all means will be used.”
Congolese Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas arrived in Kinshasa on Tuesday to meet Kabila on the crisis, while Congo’s interior minister, Colonel Philippe Bikinkita, arrived earlier and was to meet his DRC counterpart and Kolelas.