Worried Congolese head to Zambia after Kabila death

Congo businessmen and women worried about security after the assassination of president Laurent-Desire Kabila crossed into Zambia on Friday, Reuters reported. Hundreds of cars carrying families of businessmen snaked across the border into Zambia from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border town of Kasumbulesa, 80 km east of Lubumbashi, Kabila's home town.

The border between Congo and Zambia had been closed since Wednesday as confusion reigned about Kabila's fate after he was shot by one of his security officers. But cars and trucks began making their way through the frontier post when the border reopened on Friday. Military and police patrols had been stepped up in Lubumbashi and foreigners were being targeted for intense scrutiny and intimidation, the report said.

Business people who were known to have contacts in Rwanda and Uganda were being questioned by the police in Lubumbashi and at the border before crossing into Zambia, according to witnesses. Meanwhile, fighting was reported to have resumed in southeastern Congo between Rwandan-backed rebels and Congolese government forces, a Congolese intelligence official said. "It seems they are taking advantage of our troubles and confusion," he told Reuters.