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UN troops bolster Kinshasa security after clashes
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UN troops bolster Kinshasa security after clashes
United Nations (UN) peacekeeping troops in armoured vehicles clamped a heavy security shield on Congo?s capital Kinshasa yesterday, a day after the riverside city was shaken by clashes between the forces of presidential rivals.
Interior Minister Denis Kalume said four people were killed in gunbattles on Saturday between soldiers and supporters of incumbent President Joseph Kabila and of his Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, as Democratic Republic of Congo awaited the results of their historic Oct. 29 run-off vote.
Three of the dead were civilians, Kalume said. Official results from the run-off are due within a week. The streets of Kinshasa?s business district, which had echoed on Saturday to the sound of automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, were calm yesterday.
The guns fell silent after emergency talks between representatives of Kabila and Bemba and UN leaders of the world?s biggest peacekeeping force which is deployed across the vast, former Belgian colony in central Africa.
Blue-helmeted UN troops in white-painted armoured cars guarded main crossroads and offices and premises in Kinshasa used by Bemba, which were the scene of Saturday?s fighting.
One U.N. armoured vehicle was positioned directly in front of the entrance of Bemba?s riverside residence. Saturday?s fighting erupted after police broke up a protest by Bemba supporters, who staged demonstrations since Bemba?s coalition said it had evidence of systematic cheating during the vote count.
Partial figures published by the electoral commission so far have put Kabila ahead with 60 % of the vote.
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