The head of the air force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) grounded domestic flights on Friday when he banned aircraft at Kinshasa’s international airport from refuelling, airport sources said.
About 10 planes were affected when General John Numbi sent troops to seal off access to fuel tanks at N’Djili airport, preventing flights by all the country’s airlines, the sources said.
One airport source, who asked not to be named, said Numbi had been enraged when the company stocking fuel refused to supply it to his aircraft on the grounds that the Defence Ministry’s line of credit had been exhausted.
The airport management confirmed that domestic flights had been unable to operate on Friday morning, but added that the situation was ”returning to normal” and that the troops deployed around the fuel tanks had been withdrawn at about 9.30am.
Refuelling resumed about 90 minutes later.
Government members contacted by Agence France-Presse declined to comment, but said they were following events closely and would make sure a similar incident did not happen again. — AFP
