Gunfire and explosions rocked the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kinshasa, on Thursday as armed followers of a former rebel leader clashed with government troops, witnesses said.
The shooting broke out after the personal militia of defeated presidential contender Jean-Pierre Bemba defied a government order last week to disband following landmark elections in the DRC in 2006.
A Reuters witness reported steady fire from small weapons, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) in the neighbourhood around the Supreme Court in Kinshasa’s administrative district, close to one of Bemba’s residences.
The clashes were the first in the sprawling, riverside capital, a stronghold of Bemba’s support, since the elections last year.
The head of the 17 000-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission in DRC had been due to meet with President Joseph Kabila on Thursday to try to defuse the crisis. William Swing had met Bemba and Congolese Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga on Wednesday. — Reuters