Three Russians held as Antonov seized

Three Russian pilots of an Antonov aircraft chartered by the Kinshasa government were among the prisoners taken by Jean-Pierre Bemba's MLC when it captured Basankusu in Equateur Province last Wednesday, AFP reported at the weekend. The pilots told journalists in Gbadolite they were working for a Belgian-owned company, Filair, which was operating the Antonov for the DRC government, and did not know when they landed that Basankusu had been captured by the rebels earlier that day. The MLC, which said it had seized 150,000 rounds of ammunition and a large number of mortars from the Antonov, justified seizing Basankusu by saying the government was using it to launch an offensive on rebel lines, designed to capture the town of Lisala.