Kinshasa under fire!

Gunfights in the street outside the main gate of campus last night!
Outgoing and incoming artillery fire, AK47 going clack-clack-clack in
the early hours, and apparently some dead assailants at our front
gate. There was one artillery round that landed quite close (rattled
the house), and a LOT of machine gun fire within a few hundred meters
of the school. The news this morning says there was an attack on the
army base which borders our north wall, and there is still gunfire
downtown.

We're packing our 'Go Bags' as I write this, and the possiblity exists
that, if this escalates, we will be evacuated. I don't think those of
us at the school are in any targeted danger, but our proximity to the
base makes us possible candidates for collateral damage. We could see
the flame trails of the rockets going overhead last night, and I did
see one person trot across the open field behind my house, immediately
followed by loud automatic weapons fire in the spot where he ran to.
He might have been a campus guard, or he might have even been a
resident changing locations. Impossible to know, but the campus is on
full lock-down today, and things have quieted down since 4 this
morning when it was a battle zone. Last night it was a full-on
military battle, with exchanges of AK47 fire, incoming artillery, and
explosions in the distance.

I'll keep you all informed. This is kinda exciting. :-)

--riverman

On 28 Mar 2004 02:54:29 -0800, (riverman) wrote:

I'll keep you all informed. This is kinda exciting. :-)

Take care Myron, there is such a thing as too much excitement you
know.
--
Charlie...

"Charlie Choc" wrote in message
...
On 28 Mar 2004 02:54:29 -0800, (riverman) wrote:

I'll keep you all informed. This is kinda exciting. :-)

Take care Myron, there is such a thing as too much excitement you
know.


That's for sure. Now that the sun is up, it feels safer (last night, in the
dark, it was a bit scary) but no one knows what will be happening tonight.
The government is contradicting itself (of course) with its claims that 'the
uprising is under control' and 'there is still sporadic fighting downtown'.
Parents are calling, saying that their respective embassies are telling them
to stay home, stay down. The rumor mill is refining the stories: apparently
a rebel faction associated with one of the Vice Presidents is trying to
destabilize the government. There were 4 simultaneous attacks on military
bases last night, one of which was outside our gates. According to a contact
in the South African embassy who lives by the river, some political
prisoners were broken out of jail last night and a small force attacked the
UN compound. I don't know the truth of either of those stories, but a high
contact in the US embassy said that the assailants were associated with one
of the VPs who was a Mobutu sympathizer. If so, this might be the start of
something big.

M

I'll keep you all informed. This is kinda exciting. :-)

--riverman

Exciting sucks. Keep your head down.

--
Frank Reid
Reverse email to reply

"Frank Reid" wrote in message
...
I'll keep you all informed. This is kinda exciting. :-)

--riverman

Exciting sucks. Keep your head down.


Oh yeah. No worries there, Frank. Its one thing to face down some soldiers
rolling you for a few hundred dollars. Its quite another being out and about
during an armed coup. I'll be meekly following whereever the guys in the
white hats point me to go.

--riverman

riverman wrote:

Gunfights in the street ...

If it was me there'd be a bunch of kids getting their algebra
lessons via correspondence course. ;-)

Keep your head down, Myron.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Damn!

The story is already on BBC (they have a reporter in the town). The
report said that there was one dead soldier and two wounded. It was
supposedly a coup attempt.

Whenever the bullets are flying by, I suggest that you think about all
the upcoming fishing trips and keep you head down.

--
Jarmo Hurri

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"Jarmo Hurri" wrote in message
...

Damn!

The story is already on BBC (they have a reporter in the town). The
report said that there was one dead soldier and two wounded. It was
supposedly a coup attempt.

Whenever the bullets are flying by, I suggest that you think about all
the upcoming fishing trips and keep you head down.



The 'official' word is one dead soldier, one wounded. But there was
apparently one casualty outside my school (our guards reported seeing it),
and another downtown by the South African embassy. Apparently, one of the
VPs is connected to this.

And just now, as I'm writing this, a round of heavy artillery just went off
at the camp across the street. Any idea the name of the BBC reporter in
town?

--riverman

riverman And just now, as I'm writing this, a round of heavy
riverman artillery just went off at the camp across the street.

Riverman reporting from a foxhole?

riverman Any idea the name of the BBC reporter in town?

It's Arnaud Zajtman.

--
Jarmo Hurri

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"Jarmo Hurri" wrote in message
...

riverman And just now, as I'm writing this, a round of heavy
riverman artillery just went off at the camp across the street.

Riverman reporting from a foxhole?

riverman Any idea the name of the BBC reporter in town?

It's Arnaud Zajtman.


Ahh, never met him.

OK, the latest news is this. There was a coup attempt last night, with armed
assailants who came across the river from Brazzaville. They had some
supporters in the local military, and the unoffficial word is that Vice
President Bembe is somehow associated with it all, although no one is
pointing fingers yet. (He's the rabble rouser in the government.) The
insurgents simultaneously attacked some military bases (reports range from 2
to 4 bases) and a private radio/tv station at around 3 am this morning, and
the military fought back with heavy artillery. They routed the attackers,
and surrounded the last of them at the boat dock downtown where a serious
gunfight ensued. The last of the insurgents were caught midmorning this
morning, and the military says (get this) that they set off a round of heavy
mortar to announce that the coast was now clear. There was a press
conference on the local TV just a half hour ago, where the government
spokesman paraded the captured rebels for the cameras, and now they are all
to be executed this afternoon. The message is clear: don't mess with the new
Congo.

My sources on some of this are first- and second-hand: I just made a trip
into town with a local UN guy who lives next door to me. He was peeking over
the wall at 7am, and saw the soldiers from our camp rounding up a dozen or
so of their comarades who had apparently joined in the fighting on the wrong
side. He said they were getting beat up pretty badly, while their wives and
families were being ejected from the base housing. After they were
interrogated (right on the side of the road, in front of my friend who was
hiding in some bushes that were hanging over the wall), they were locked in
a guard shack on the streetside. At around 8am, the military trucks came and
hauled them off. These are some of the guys to be executed tonight. On our
trip downtown just now, all seems pretty calm. Very little traffic on the
road (it is Sunday, after all) and very little military presence. We passed
a convoy of trucks with 50cal cannons on the back just as we got back to
campus, and the soldiers looked pretty spit and polished. I think they were
just parading to make themselves seen. The usual places where there are
police guards were mostly abandoned: the UN guys said that many of the
police, who haven't been paid for several months, decided to go on a rampage
this morning when they heard that a coup was going on, and they shot up and
looted some shops downtown. The army sent out a squad to chase off the
police, which is what started the rumors tht the police were behind the
fighting last night.

So at this moment, it seems like a very short-lived coup attempt. The good
side is that classes are cancelled tomorrow, and I leave for South Africa
for vacation on Tuesday, assuming that there isn't a rush for flights. The
downside is that I missed my chance to be a witness to a really huge scale
coup attempt. :-/

Live from Kinshasa, this is riverman.