Congo's Kabila says to hunt those behind violence
Source: Reuters
(Adds more Kabila quotes, background) By Joe Bavier KINSHASA, March 26 (Reuters) - Congo's President Joseph Kabila vowed on Monday to track down those behind two days of heavy fighting in the capital Kinshasa and said he had nothing to negotiate with former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba. Congolese authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Bemba, who is sheltering in the South African embassy where he fled during fierce gun and mortar battles between his men and government soldiers in which more than 100 people were killed. "All those who are responsible for insecurity will be tracked down," Kabila told a news conference in Kinshasa which was broadcast on state television. "Could a militia group in Paris seize the Champs Elysees and then have a reconciliation the next day? If not, why should it be so in Congo," he said. South African Foreign Ministry officials have said Bemba has not asked for asylum and that their offer of refuge is only a temporary measure. Bemba, who was elected to Congo's senate earlier this year, holds immunity from prosecution. Government forces restored order to Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling riverside capital late on Friday after routing fighters loyal to Bemba. Hospital morgues were overflowing with dead bodies and doctors struggled to cope with the wounded while parts of downtown showed signs of machinegun and mortar damage. Widespread looting by Bemba's fighters and government soldiers added to the destruction and undermined Congo's fledgling democratic credentials, diplomats said. "Kabila needs to realise that by flattening his capital city to settle political scores, and allowing his troops to loot so massively, he is scaring off business investors and putting development aid in jeopardy," one western diplomat said. MILITARY SOLUTION Diplomats and Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission had urged Kabila and Bemba to find a peaceful solution to the armed standoff in the middle of the city of some 8 million people. But Kabila defended his decision to use troops against Bemba's fighters, who continued to hold positions around the defeated presidential candidate's Kinshasa residence despite an order for them to be replaced by a security detail of 12 police. "It wasn't a political problem. The problem was military," Kabila said. "The response was entirely clear. We needed to act and act quickly. And that is what we did." Many leading members of Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo, which now makes up the largest opposition group in the country's new parliament, went into hiding after the violence. Kabila said they had no reason to worry. It was the first violence in the capital since November last year, when clashes erupted between Bemba's fighters and government forces following the announcement of results of an October presidential run-off which Bemba lost to Kabila. The polls aimed to turn the page on a 1998-2003 war which killed nearly 4 million people, mainly from hunger and disease. "We had to take the chance and hold elections. Now that is done, nobody is above the law," Kabila said. "The President Kabila that you had before the elections is no longer the same. Now, in front of you, I am the elected president." Kabila was sworn in in December as Congo's first democratically chosen leader in more than 40 years, although the polls highlighted deep divisions between the former Belgian colony's pro-Kabila Swahili-speaking east and Lingala-speaking west where Bemba commands much popular support.
| AlertNet news is provided by |









