Heavy fighting rages in Congo's capital
Pastor Dale Morgan
Heavy fighting rages in Congo's capital*
Reuters
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; 1:44 AM
KINSHASA (Reuters) - Fighting rocked the Democratic Republic of Congo
capital Kinshasa for a third day on Tuesday after the announcement of a
presidential run-off vote following July 30 elections, witnesses said.
Heavy gunfire was heard near the area where U.N. and European
peacekeepers on Monday rescued a group of foreign ambassadors trapped by
fighting between soldiers loyal to President Joseph Kabila and
supporters of an election rival.
Uruguayan troops using armored vehicles and supported by Spanish
legionnaires escorted the U.N. and foreign envoys from the house of
Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba in Kinshasa where they were
pinned down by gunbattles.
The July polls were the first free national vote for more than four
decades in the vast, mineral-rich, war-scarred former Belgian colony.
The United Nations has its biggest peacekeeping force in the world --
more than 17,000-strong -- deployed in Congo.