Rebels Shoot Down Jetliner in Eastern Congo

Rebels shot down a jetliner carrying more than 40 passengers and crew in eastern Congo on Saturday, firing a missile that hit one of the plane’s rear engines, and rescuers were searching through dense jungle for survivors, according to airline officials.

Both rebels and Congolese officials said the Boeing 727 belonging to the private Congolese Airlines (CAL) was downed around Kindu, a stronghold town of forces backing President Laurent Kabila. Kindu is about 275 miles southwest of Goma in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire.

The rebels and officials differed on who was on board--mainly civilians or mainly soldiers--and on the stage of the plane’s flight when it was hit.

The rebels warned afterward that they would shoot down any aircraft trying to land at Kindu airport.

“All planes arriving in Kindu face a major risk of being shot down,” Alexis Tambwe, a senior rebel official, told a late-night news conference in the eastern rebel bastion of Goma.

Government and airline officials said the aircraft was brought down after it took off from Kindu airport bound for Kinshasa, whereas rebels said they hit the plane as it was coming in to land at Kindu.

A CAL director said that the plane had 38 passengers--primarily women and children--and three crew aboard and that rescuers were checking for any survivors.

Tambwe said the plane was carrying government troops and military equipment from the capital, Kinshasa, and denied there were any civilian casualties.

Airline sources say private airlines, including several foreign charter outfits, have been playing an important role in transporting troops and materials for Kabila.

The attack marked a sharp escalation in the 2-month-old civil war that has grown into a wider regional conflict attracting about half a dozen African armies.

The government accused Burundi on Saturday of joining Uganda and Rwanda in backing the rebels.

Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo told a news conference in Kinshasa that the three countries were helping ethnic Tutsis leading the rebellion to set up a Tutsi homeland in the east of the country.

All three neighbors helped Kabila militarily in his bush war that toppled dictator Mobutu Sese Seko last year. They deny direct involvement in the conflict that erupted in August with a rebellion by Tutsis in Kabila’s army.

Meanwhile in Uganda, a government official said Ugandan forces are in control of several airports in rebel-held areas of Congo.

Foreign Affairs Minister Amama Mbabazi said on the private Capital Radio station in Kampala that Uganda had taken control of the airports in eastern Congo to head off possible attacks on Uganda by Sudanese troops.

Ugandan intelligence officials and Congolese rebels have accused Sudan of sending troops to Congo to support Kabila’s forces. Sudan denies the charge.