Western officials expelled

The DRC government has expelled five British officials and an American seconded to the UK foreign office after accusing them of “spying”, news agencies said. “These men have violated the Vienna Convention by illegally entering a military base, namely the Ndolo military base,” Interior Minister Gaetan Kakudji said on state television yesterday. The officials, arrested on Sunday, were carrying “sophisticated photographic cameras and maps of the barracks and strategic points of the city of Kinshasa and its environs,” he said. The British foreign office has denied the officials were spies and said they were reviewing emergency evacuation plans for British embassy staff and other nationals. They required cameras and maps to carry out their work, British Minister Tony Lloyd told BBC.

One of those expelled, a British diplomat, left Kinshasa on Wednesday night, while the other five flew to Zimbabwe yesterday and were scheduled to leave for the UK today, Reuters said.

Britain announced today that it was recalling its ambassador from Kinshasa for consultation, Reuters reported.

Kakudji yesterday also charged that those expelled had links with three Americans arrested in Zimbabwe on Sunday for allegedly trying to smuggle weapons out of that country.