/ 13 April 1999

POINTE NOIRE POWER RESTORED

ELECTRICITY was restored on Monday in Pointe Noire, Congo’s main port and its economic capital, after being cut off since January, local residents report. Power supplies to the city were cut off when rebels loyal to former president Pascal Lissouba captured the Moukoukoulou dam some 350km south-west of the capital Brazzaville. Two weeks ago, government troops retook the dam after fierce clashes which claimed the lives of six rebels. Technicians from the national electricity authority immediately set about repairing the high tension lines from the dam to Pointe-Noire, the country’s main oil terminal.