OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kinshasa | Sunday 6.30PM.
AS European governments flew military aircaft to Kinshasa to evacuate their nationals, a South African Air Force Boeing 707 arrived at Waterkloof air base near Pretoria on Sunday morning carrying more than 100 people, three dogs and a cat from the capital of the embattled Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kinshasa was described as quiet but tense on Sunday morning by a number of the evacuees. ”It is very quiet, but a lot of people are leaving in a hurry. There is nothing to be too worried about yet,” South African Andy Watson said in Pretoria. Watson, an aircraft engineer, said he left on the advice of the South African embassy in Kinshasa. He said water and electricity supplies to the city are unreliable.
Pakistani businessman Ahmed Yousuf said he fled Kinshasa out of fright. ”The situation is very bad,” he said. ”The rebels might arrive there in a day or two.”
The group that landed in Pretoria on Sunday included 10 South African citizens, 16 SA Airways employees, 13 Germans, 15 Swiss, 13 Tanzanians, eight Iranians, eight Israelis, one from the Central African Republic, seven Canadians, a Dane, two Swedes, one Turkish citizen, two Portuguese, a Pakistani, a Romanian and five Britons. The foreigners were issued with temporary residence permits, and are expected to stay in South Africa for about one week.
Meanwhile, Britain sent 50 Royal Marines to Congo on Sunday to prepare for evacuation of its citizens from Kinshasa. A Hercules transport plane left for the Congolese capital Brazzaville from the British base on Ascension Island in the Atlantic, a defence ministry spokesman said.
British troops are to carry out an evacuation in co-operation with French forces, although the spokesman did not specify when the evacuation will go ahead. British troops will ”remain on standby in Brazzaville,” he said.
A French government plane carrying 187 people fleeing the fighting arrived in Paris on Sunday morning. The plane was carrying 87 French people, while the rest came from about a dozen other countries. A Belgian military transport plane left on Sunday on a second mission to ferry out nationals from Kinshasa. The Belgian foreign ministry said a third flight to Kinshasa is planned for Sunday using a Belgian Air Force Airbus A-310.
DRC President Laurent Kabila on Friday appointed his son, Major Joseph Kabila, as the chief-of-staff of the Congolese Armed Forces, replacing Major Kifwa, who was recently appointed to the post.