Suddenly, everyone in Zaire’s second- biggest city is cursing President Sese Seko Mobutu, reports Chris McGreal in Lubumbashi
REBELS seized Zaire’s second-largest city, Lubumbashi, on Wednesday to be greeted by tumultuous applause as hordes of people welcomed them as liberators.
The fall of the city left President Mobutu Sese Seko scrambling to retain what is left of his crumbling power by imposing a de facto military government even as the United States went public with an extraordinarily open condemnation of their former close ally. “Mobutuism is about to become a creature of history,” said White House spokesman Mike McCurry.
US support for the rebels has been an open secret for months, but this week the White House said bluntly that President Mobutu Sese Seko should leave power because support for him was insufficient to lead Zaire “into the next chapter of its history”.
In what appeared a desperate last attempt to exert his authority Mobutu dismissed his old foe, Etienne Tshisekedi, as prime minister on the same day the rebels took Lubumbashi – the very day he was to have taken office.
Earlier in the day security forces in Kinshasa fired in the air and used teargas against thousands of Tshisekedi supporters who turned out to accompany him to the prime minister’s offices to instal his new government team. Security forces had blocked off the office complex with troops and armoured vehicles.
Tshisekedi, his eyes streaming from the teargas, had set off on foot for the offices surrounded by his supporters. Security forces fired in the air and fired teargas grenades after the crowd burst through an initial security cordon.
Witnesses said that Mobutu’s son, Kongolo, a presidential guard officer known in Kinshasa as “Saddam Hussein” after the Iraqi leader, had escorted Tshisekedi back home. Tshisekedi was bleeding from a wound to the head, one aide said.
In his place, the president imposed a military man, the former defence minister General Likulia Bolongo. His appointment, on the heels of a state of emergency which gave the army direct administration of those provinces still in government hands, may have been the military’s condition for continuing to fight. But it is likely to prove a futile gesture.
With the fall of Lubumbashi, the regime retains real control of little more than Kinshasa and large areas of rainforest.
After several hours of artillery fire on Lubumbashi’s outskirts, which cleared the city centre in a matter of minutes as residents scurried for their homes, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire launched its assault. Government forces did not put up significant resistance. One unit simply abandoned its barracks and ran. Gunfire continued through the day until the rebels had taken control of most of Lubumbashi.
As the rebels moved into the city, a single chant swept across Lubumbashi: “Kabila, Kabila”, the name of the rebel leader, Laurent Kabila.
Most of the city was immensely relieved at the rebels’ arrival, which residents had expected for days. Crowds of people took over the military headquarters to clap and whistle in support of the insurgents, even while fighting continued close by. Many tore strips of white cloth from sheets and rolled-up white towels to wrap around their heads to reaffirm their support for the rebels. In their enthusiasm, some young men jumped into the back of rebels’ vehicles saying they would join the fight.
Suddenly everyone has always been against Mobutu. Suddenly everyone found the courage to denounce him. Sammy Toassa, sporting the obligatory makeshift headband, struggled to express his contempt.
`We don’t ever want to think of Mobutu again. We hope he burns in hell, or worse. But what could be worse? Now we are liberated by our brother Kabila,” he said.
Not everyone was so confident of the rebels. As they swung into sight, one elegantly dressed young woman ripped off her earrings and gold chain, saying she feared they would be stolen. Shortly afterwards the jewels were back in place and she was chatting happily to one of the insurgents dressed in a black beret, olive fatigues and Wellington boots.
The rebels did not have a lot to say but what they did revealed some to be Swahili- speaking Tutsis who have grown up in Tanzania or Uganda as exiles from Rwanda, reinforcing the evidence that Zaire’s neighbours are backing the Alliance. The crowd did not care.
But while there was an immense relief at getting rid of a grim regime which for most Zaireans is the only one they have ever known, people looked mystified when asked what it is they expect from the rebels. Eventually someone chirped up their hopes for democracy. Another said jobs.
Appollos Mufunga got into the swing of things. “The people hope for better lives and freedom, and more money to spend. That’s what they have in Goma and Bukavu and other places liberated by the rebels,” he said.
Mufunga is mistaken. In many ways, life remains as hard in rebel-held areas as it always was and the Alliance has shown a streak as authoritarian as Mobutu’s.
But in Lubumbashi this week it was as if a huge burden had been lifted after the rising tensions of recent days as frightened government troops became increasingly abusive, beating up suspected rebel sympathisers and extorting money at gunpoint.
Food was hard to come by for poor residents. Almost no new deliveries came into the city, most shops were closed and the prices of what was available rose steeply.
Among those who welcomed the rebels was a group of Italian nuns looking after homeless teenage girls. They have been living in terror for days, fearing that undisciplined government troops would repeat the rapes and murders which have become a hallmark of their retreats elsewhere.
“We haven’t slept properly in days. Every little noise in the night terifies us. We’ve heard the tales of the nuns who were raped by the army in the north. God knows what they will do to us. We just want this to be over,” said Sister Maria.
After the fighting began, many government troops fled into the city centre and hijacked cars in the hope of making their escape. Senior officers could be seen fleeing towards the airport, about 6km miles away. But some government soldiers fought back. Rebel wounded were carried from the front-line which shifted rapidly around corners and down streets.
The rebels launched their assault after positioning troops on at least two sides of the city after seizing the town of Likasi, two hours’ drive north of Lubumbashi, and Kipushi, 30km to the south.
The main resistance was put up by Mobutu’s personal regiment, the Special Presidential Division (DSP) which claimed to have beaten off the rebels just two days ago. But the DSP was increasingly isolated and nervous as units of the regular army went over to the rebels or refused to fight, and most of the city’s civilian population openly sided with the Alliance.
The DSP was left with almost no means of escape other than the surrounding bush, where they are likely to be hunted down, or heading several hundred kilometres for the Angolan border.
Shortly before the rebel assault the army scrambled to boost its manpower by press- ganging young men into uniform. A forlorn bunch was lined up outside the military headquarters, but their reluctance to fight was obvious. When soldiers at a nearby road block opened fire after a car failed to stop, some of the conscripts took the opportunity to flee in the chaos.