OWN CORRESPONDENT, Goma | Thursday 11.00PM.
REBELS in the Democratic Republic of Congo claim to have seized a dam at Inga, 250km south-west of Kinshasa, which supplies the capital with electrical power. At the same time a power blackout in Kinshasa itself has sparked panic that the rebels are within reach of the capital.
Jean-Pierre Ondekane, the military leader of the Tutsi-led rebel movement, said on Thursday that his forces had captured the Inga dam on Wednesday after fighting that left 128 government troops dead. Ondekane also said the airport at the strategic river port of Matadi is in rebel hands, and the town is expected to capitulate during the night.
Heavy fighting was earlier reported at Matadi by the DRC government.
DRC state radio, which has been boadcasting anti-rebel propaganda from Kinshasa, has fallen silent because of the power black-out, which may be coincidental. However unconfirmed reports say a pylon between Inga and Kinshasa has been cut. There has been no official explanation for the blackout.
“I have no intention of cutting off Kinshasa’s electricity supply for the moment, because I do not want to make my brothers suffer,” Ondekane said. “But if [President Laurent] Kabila is stubborn, we will cut everything and he will be caught by the throat.”
He said the rebels have captured Bunia, in the north-east and that theye xpect to take Kisanjani “soon”. Reinforcements are also on the way to rebel units at Kasanguru, 45km from Kinshasa.
“We are meeting very little resistance, so there is little fighting,” he added.
Meanwhile two US amphibious assault ships with 1,200 US Marines left marseilles, France, on Wednesday heading for the coast of equatorial Africa in case Washington decides to evacuate US nationals from the DRC, the Pentagon said.
The State Department has made no decision yet to evacuate the estimated 260 Americans left in the country. The helicopter assault ship USS Saipan and the amphibious dock ship USS Tortuga departed on Wednesday from Marseilles, France, carrying some 1,200 combat troops from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. A US military advance team already is in Gabon to begin make preparations for an evacuation should it be requested by the US ambassador in Kinshasa.