DAKAR, Senegal – Armed assailants who identified themselves as disciples of a self-styled prophet attacked the state television station, the airport and the main military base in Congo’s capital in what many feared was a coup attempt early Monday, before being repelled by the country’s military, officials said.
Lambert Mende, Congo’s government spokesman, confirmed the attacks in Kinshasa, saying around 40 people were killed in an exchange of gunfire Monday morning, including 16 at the military base, 16 at the airport and eight at the TV station. He also confirmed that shooting had occurred in Lubumbashi, the country’s second-largest city located in southeastern Congo but said calm had returned there and in Kinshasa by Monday afternoon.
“The city of Kinshasa was attacked at these three sites by a terrorist group, which has not yet been identified, an unknown group that attacked the security forces who are in charge of protecting these three sites, which are of strategic importance,” Mende said in a broadcast on Congolese television.
With a population of nearly 66 million, Congo spans a territory as large as Western Europe.
It has twice gone to war with its smaller neighbor to the east, Rwanda, which as recently as this year was accused of propping up a rebel group, ensconced in Congo’s eastern forest.
President Kabila, who is himself from the east, often has been derided by his opponents as being “Rwandan.” He came to power in 2001, after the assassination of his father, warlord Laurent Kabila. The elder Kabila marched his rebel army into Kinshasa in 1997, grabbing power in a coup.
Even in a place that has suffered numerous coups, and whose remote forests are still home to armed groups, the attack in the capital on Monday surprised many. International flights that were about to land in Congo made U-turns in the air, including one carrying more than 100 passengers, including the AP’s local correspondent.
“We took off this morning for Kinshasa, and after one hour in the air, the pilot announced that the airport was under attack,” Saleh Mwanamilongo said by email, after his flight returned to South Africa. “The pilot went on the intercom to say, ‘We have just learned that there is gunfire at the Ndjili Airport, and as we cannot land we will need to return to Johannesburg.”’
In an emergency message, the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa said it had received reports of armed engagements and fighting throughout Kinshasa, as well as indications that numerous police and military checkpoints had been erected. “The embassy urged all U.S. citizens to stay in place and not travel around the city until further notice,” the statement said.
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Associated Press writer Saleh Mwanamilongo contributed to this report from Johannesburg.
