Congo Rebels Reportedly Seize 2 Key Cities as Revolt Widens

As an uneasy calm settled over this capital Wednesday, radio reports from neighboring Rwanda said that renegade soldiers, bent on toppling the government of Congolese President Laurent Kabila, had captured two key cities in his country’s eastern Kivu region.

The reported rebel victories in Goma and Bukavu, the two biggest cities in the area near the border with Rwanda, indicated that the seemingly organized rebellion might be gaining momentum, local observers said.

Some Congolese officials suggested earlier this week that the unrest, which began to escalate after Kabila ordered all Rwandan troops out of the country last week, was insignificant and would easily be quashed. Instead, it seemed to be snowballing Wednesday.

Pockets of fighting were reported in the north-central city of Kisangani and in Kitona, near the Atlantic coast and about 200 miles southwest of Kinshasa. Unconfirmed reports said that Bizima Karaha, an ethnic Tutsi and Congo’s foreign minister, who had taken temporary refuge in South Africa, had arrived in Goma, apparently to join forces with the rebels.

Kabila’s government has accused Rwanda, unquestionably once his strongest ally, of sending troops to help Congo’s ethnic Tutsis overthrow his regime. Congolese Tutsis, known as Banyamulenge, have close heritage links with Rwanda.

Opponents of Kabila, meanwhile, have labeled him a corrupt dictator, prone to handing out political favors and devoid of the skills needed to manage this vast Central African nation of more than 45 million people. Kabila, who with support from Rwanda ousted veteran dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in May 1997, has been wrestling to quell rising discontent in the country’s east for the last several months.

“Almost 400 army forces have come from Rwanda and have caused Congolese bloodshed,” government spokesman Didier Mumenge said Wednesday. He added that “our armed forces will secure the national integrity and will restore the Congolese dignity and definitely end this fool adventure.”

Rwanda has continued to deny involvement in the unrest in Congo, which under the late Mobutu was known as Zaire. But foreign aid workers in the Kivu region confirmed seeing Rwandan troops crossing the border into areas of northern Kivu.

Passengers arriving Wednesday at Kinshasa’s international airport, normally teeming with people, were greeted by soldiers carrying automatic machine guns, and an armored personnel carrier circled the perimeter of the spacious parking lot outside. Only designated taxis were permitted to enter the airport grounds to drop off or pick up travelers.

The United States has ordered all nonessential workers at its Kinshasa embassy and other American residents to leave as soon as they can, saying they risk being caught up in the Congolese rebellion by possibly being attacked or detained. At the airport, security personnel scrutinized the passengers’ passports, possibly trying to weed out any “Tutsi elements,” according to one local humanitarian worker.

Though Kabila never encouraged anti-Tutsi sentiments--many Tutsis held key positions in his government--resentment of this minority group runs deep among average Congolese.

Foreign aid workers said that ethnic Tutsis living in the Congolese capital have been intimidated and harassed in recent days. There were even reports of civilians being arrested “just for having a straight nose,” as one relief worker put it.

Said another: “If there was ever ill feeling against the government, then there’s certainly ill feeling against the Tutsis. . . . People resented the fact that [Kabila] had called for peace and harmony with Congo’s neighbors.”