OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10.15pm.
DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo rebels admitted on Monday that they have not captured the airport at the government’s vital eastern military headquarters at Kindu, but are merely “around” the town.
Rebel “information minister” Etienne Ngangoura on Sunday claimed that rebel troops had taken the town and airport in what DRC Information Minister Didier Mumengi quickly dismissed at “propaganda reports”.
Mumengi admitted that the rebels had carried out a “hazardous incursion” near Kindu, and been fought off. He added that the rebels sent two spies to Kindu. “They were immediately neutralised by the population,” he declared.
Rebel military leaders on Monday confirmed that their troops are still at least 19km outside the town, but said they are gearing up for a battle for Kindu.
The capture of Kindu will boost troops’ morale and demonstrate that the army has the determination to carry the rebellion further into the DRC, they said. Kindu will also open routes to Katanga and Eastern Kasai provinces, rich in copper and diamonds, for the rebels.
The airport is of considerable importance to the government, since it is big enough to take warplanes that can strike at all rebel-held territory in the east of the vast central African country.
Reports on Monday indicate that the rebel troops are firmly in control of Kalima, a mining town just 80km northeast of Kindu. Resident who have fled the town claim the rebels took the town at around 6am on Saturday morning without encountering any resistance.
The loyalist DRC army troops in the town confiscated all the mining company’s vehicles and fled toward Kindu as the rebels arrived, one resident said.