[HCDX] DR Congo

[Robert Wilkner <rlcw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

DR Congo Says Renegades Seize Radio, Order Restored
Fri Jun 11, 2004 12:50 AM ET

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Renegade presidential guards in the Democratic
Republic of Congo seized control of state radio early on Friday, but
troops loyal to the government retook the station soon afterwards, the
government said.

"The situation is now calm," government spokesman Vital Kamerhe said. He
did not specify if there had been a battle for the radio station.

"Some officers in the presidential guard took control of the state radio
at 2:30 this morning (9:30 p.m. EDT Thursday), but loyalist soldiers
retook control two and a half hours later," he said.

He said the guards were led by Major Eric Lenge of the elite unit which
guards Congo's President Joseph Kabila, but that it was unclear how many
guards were involved.

The incident comes days after government troops recaptured the eastern
town of Bukavu from dissident soldiers after a week-long occupation
launched in protest at what they said was the persecution of their
ethnic group.

The revolt exposed the weakness of Kabila's transitional government
installed a year ago, which is still struggling to restore central
authority across Africa's third-largest country after five years of war.

The clashes in the mineral-rich east also raised fears of a wider
regional conflict involving Congo and its tiny neighbor Rwanda, which
invaded the former Zaire in 1996 and 1998.

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