OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kinshasa | Monday 11.00PM.
REBEL forces fighting to topple Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila say they have entered Mbanza-Ngungu, some 130km south of the capital, and are preparing to move on Kinshasa.
Rebel commander Jean-Pierre Ondekane said on Monday that the rebels had taken the town of Songololo with a brief fight on Sunday night, which opened the road to Mbanza-Ngungu and Kinshasa. He expected the capital to fall ”within days”.
Kinshasa itself was in the throes of another power black-out on Monday afternoon. The DRC govenrnment confirmed that rebels were now in control of the Inga power station, Kinshasa’s main supply, but blamed the power failure on a ”breakdown” at the hydro plant.
Kabila, meanwhile, has returned to his stronghold, Lubumbashi in the far south of the country. At the weekend he met presidents Sam Nujoma of Namibia and Jos Eduardo do Santos of Angola in an attempt to gain military help from them to shore himself up against the rebellion.
Analysts doubt that either country will intervene militarily in the DRC’s affairs.
However a meeting of the defence ministers of Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe was held in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Monday to discuss the situation. Although Kabila is the DRC’s defence minister, he sent an official to attend the meeting in his place. Zimbabwe’s Ziana news agency reported that the meeting did not reach a conclusion.
In South Africa, meanwhile, the government has dismissed allegations that South Africa is supplying arms to the DRC rebels forces. Helmuth Schlenter, spokesman for Deputy Intelligence Minister Joe Nhlanhla, said on Monday: ”At this point there are no indications whatsoever of either South African individuals or former South African officers being involved personally or in supplying weapons.”