OWN CORRESPONDENT, Goma | Friday 1.00PM.
WITH panic growing in Kinshasa, rebel troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo are reported to have advanced as far as Kasangulu, some 30km south-west of the capital. Rebel leaders in Goma said Kinshasa is now in their sights, and will fall by the end of the month, if not sooner.
On Friday afternoon some power was restored to Kinshasa, which had experienced a blackout since 4pm on Thursday, after the rebels captured Inga, a hydro-electric facility which is Kinshasa’s primary power supply. It was unclear where the restored electricity was coming from, but Kinshasa has a second power source in the town of Nzongo.
Foreign airlines, including South African Airlines, have suspended flights to Kinshasa and foreign nationals are being advised by their governments to leave whichever way they can. The border with Brazzaville is closed, and port facilities in the west are under rebel control.
France has sent an airliner to collect 1000 French nationals who want to leave, and has said it has troops in Gabon on standby in the event of trouble. The United States has two amphibious warships en route from the Mediterranean, in the event of an evacuation being needed.
DRC President Laurent Kabila was earlier reported to have fled Kinshasa for Lubumbashi, his former stronghold in the south of the country near the Zambian border. Before leaving, Kabila sacked his new military commander, Celestin Kifwa – his brother-in-law – and replaced him with Kalume Numbi, a former general of ousted dictator Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime.
Kabila appointed Kifwa last month after firing James Kabari, a Rwandan commander who had been a close ally of Kabila’s during his war against Mobutu. Kabari, also known in Rwanda as Kabarere, has since joined the rebel movement.
Earlier on Friday rebel troops were seen boarding flights in Goma for an unknown destination. A first batch of 200 men boarded a transport plane around midday, while another 800 soldiers waited to board three more planes.
The rebellion’s military chief, Jean-Pierre Ondekane, announced Thursday that reinforcements would be sent to Matadi in the south-western Bas-Congo region and to Bunia in Haut-Congo province, directly north of Goma.
The Tutsi-led rebels are reported to be in control of a third of the country, in particular the crusial western coastal area, where they have gained control of the river port of Matadi, as well as strategic facilities such as the Inge hydro-electric plant which supplies not only Kinshasa but Brazzaville in neighbouring Republic of Congo, as well as several large mining operations. In the east they are comfortably in control of a string of towns including Goma, Bukavu, Uvira and Bunia.