Kabila safe after failed coup

2004-06-11 09:04

Kinshasa - A coup attempt by members of the presidential guard was thwarted overnight in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo by forces loyal to the Kinshasa government, officials said on Friday.

The renegade officer described as the leader, Major Eric Lengue, announced on national radio a few hours after midnight local time that the transition government had failed and been suspended, the sources said.

Information Minister Vital Kamerhe said this "commando", as he called it, then headed to the national electricity company, SNEL, and caused a three-hour power cut in Kinshasa.

Reliable sources said Lengue is in his 30s, a member of a special presidential guard. They said he had been backed by about 20 supporters.

Kabila informed

Kamerhe said the attempted takeover bid had failed, President Joseph Kabila had been informed and order had been re-established, in comments on the private Kinshasa radio station Top.

Kabila's spokesperson told reporters 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 told reporters a few hours after the incident.

No threat

"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 power cut affected the entire capital and fuelled rumours of trouble. Electricity was re-established shortly before 06:00 am. (05:00GMT)

Reliable sources said Major Lengue and his backers were surrounded in a military camp in Kinshasa, Camp Tshatshi.

Early on Friday, there were no signs of any new military deployment in the capital of this country, which undertook a peace process in 2003 and installed a transitional government in hopes of ending a five-year war though unrest has continued.

Cars 'requisitioned'

Traffic was lighter than usual, as has been the pattern here during tension when drivers stay off the streets fearing their cars could be requisitioned.

"It was a new attempt at destabilisation, which is never good for the country," said one diplomat.

The incident came after the army on Wednesday recaptured the eastern town of Bukavu from dissident troops, who had overtaken it on June 2 sparking fears that the DRC's fragile peace would crumble.

The week-long dissident uprising in Bukavu was the largest threat to a peace process aiming to bring this huge country out of five years of war.

- AFP