A coup attempt was thwarted overnight in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an officer announced on national radio he had taken control in Kinshasa and the government had resigned, Information Minister Vital Kamerhe said on private radio on Friday.
Major Eric Lengue and his backers took control of the national radio and television offices, then the national electricity company, Snel, before the attempted coup was thwarted, the minister said without elaborating. He spoke on the private Kinshasa radio station, Top.
Kamerhe said President Joseph Kabila had been informed and order had been re-established.
Kabila’s spokesperson said on Friday that the president ”is fine” and under no threat.
”It was just someone trying to throw his weight around and who got inside the radio station,” Kabila’s spokesperson Kudura Kasongo said a few hours after the incident.
”The president is fine, I am in regular contact with him and there is no threat,” Kasongo said, adding there had been no sign of any troop movements in the capital.
The renegade major’s announcement was made on the radio around 3am (2am GMT), then followed by a long cut in electrical power that affected the entire capital and fuelled rumors of trouble.
Electricity was re-established shortly before 6am. – Sapa-AFP