Congo Forces Rebel Against Kabila

KINSHASA, Congo —  Gunfire rang out at army barracks in this capital, and military troops in the east declared themselves in open rebellion Monday against President Laurent Kabila, who used loyal forces to control the streets and pursue Rwandan mercenaries who appear to have turned against him.

Predawn clashes at two military bases apparently pitted Kabila’s troops against the mercenaries, who last year helped him oust longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who later died in exile.

Meanwhile, a Rwandan official said a 435-mile stretch in the eastern Kivu region in Congo was in revolt. The region borders Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, and is the area where Kabila’s rebellion originated.

Contacted by telephone in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, Maj. Ilunga Kabambi, the commander of the Congolese army in the region, said he and members of the 222nd Brigade were “not in agreement with the president.”

About 14 months after charging victoriously into Kinshasa, the rebel alliance that carried Kabila to power appears to be unraveling, a development that threatens to plunge this Central African country back into chaos.

Although Rwandan troops played an important role in Kabila’s victory over Mobutu, relations between the countries have soured in recent months. Rwanda has been frustrated by Kabila’s failure to stop cross-border Hutu rebel attacks on Rwanda and may take this opportunity to set up a buffer zone.

Suspicions had been growing within Kabila’s government that the Rwandan troops were plotting against the regime. Kabila had been growing anxious over the presence of Rwandan forces in Kinshasa, and he increased security around government buildings.

Kabila last week ordered all Rwandan soldiers to leave the country. He also fired James Kabari, a Rwandan Tutsi who was his top military commander.

Troops loyal to Kabila set up roadblocks throughout Kinshasa on Monday and began a massive search for Rwandan Tutsi soldiers. A Defense Ministry official said loyalist troops had been ordered to kill any Rwandan soldiers found hiding in or around the city.

According to a Defense Ministry official, more than 1,000 Rwandan Tutsi soldiers fled the Kokolo base in Kinshasa and are hiding in a forest just outside the city.

Shops in Kinshasa were closed, and people stayed home from work. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on the city.

“The government asks the people of Congo and those foreigners here in the country to stay calm and to stay at home until order is restored,” said an abrupt announcement Monday morning on state-controlled People’s Radio. “Stay at home just until that time when the armed forces of Congo reestablish civil order.”

In eastern Congo, the Banyamulenge Tutsi population has become increasingly opposed to Kabila.

Kabambi, the military commander, confirmed reports that several dozen ethnic Tutsi officers and soldiers court-martialed and jailed for insubordination were freed from Bukavu prison.

“This is a generalized movement,” he said.

Rwanda’s foreign minister said his country had no hand in the latest turmoil in Congo.

“The crisis now rising in Kinshasa and the eastern part of . . . Congo is purely an internal matter, and the government of Rwanda is not involved in any way,” Anastase Gasana was quoted as saying by the private Rwandan News Agency.