WEDNESDAY, 6.00PM
The former military strongman of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, appeared on Wednesday to have routed government forces to take the country’s two major towns, Brazzaville and Pointe Noire.
An exodus of terrified Brazzaville residents who fled across the Congo river to Kinshasa today, report that Nguesso’s final bloody assault on the city was led by tanks and Mig-21 fighter jets. Television and radio stations have shut down, and it is not known whether President Pascal Lissouba is still in the country. He was last reported to have fled in a helicopter that broke down and landed in the town of Dolisie, which remains loyal to him.
Meanwhile in the coastal oil town of Pointe Noire, the military commander has called on his men to surrender to the invading rebels, telling Radio France Internationale that he has ordered his troops to “lay down their arms and stop shooting.”
French troops have been put on standby to evacuate French nationals from Pointe Noire, where about 1 000 French citizens live. The French foreign ministry said on Wednesday that military transport planes and helicopters in neighbouring Chad and Gabon are on standby and will move in if necessary. A marine infantry batallion is also standing by in Gabon.
The French petroleum giant Elf-Aquitaine, which dominates the country’s economy through its subsidiary Elf-Congo, has repeatedly claimed that Angolan troops have joined the rebels in attacking Pointe Noire, backed by tanks and Angolan airforce jets. The Angolans deny the claims, and insist that troops from the Congo attacked the neighbouring Angolan oil enclave of Cabinda. There have also been reports that Unita rebels from Angola have been supporting the Congo government’s side.
A United Nations Security Council meeting on Tuesday night heard secretary general Kofi Annan call for a UN peacekeeping force in the Congo, and for an arms embargo against the country, warning that the war could easily envelope neighbouring countries.
But Annan’s problem is once again the US government, which is reluctant to commit American soldiers to peacekeeping missions in Africa, following the abortive Somalia mission a few years ago. Both Britain and France support intervention.
Rebel leader Sassou Nguesso was president of the country until 1992, when foreign pressure forced him to hold elections, which he lost. A member of the northern M’Bochi group, he became military dictator after he deposed a colleague in 1979. He claimed to be a Marxist Leninist, but strengthened ties with France and Belgium, allowing the oil company Elf-Aquitaine to dominate the economy.
President Pascal Lissouba, a southerner and the country’s most accomplished scientist, spent 11 years in exile working for the UN after taking part in a botched coup attempt. He sparked the civil war five months ago when he sent in troops to disarm Nguesso’s private militia. All three major political parties in the Congo run militias, split along tribal lines. Lissouba’s followers are the Zoulous, Nguesso’s are the Cobras, and the mayor of Brazzaville, Bernard Kolelas, has the Ninjas.