Belgium warns against “contradictory” information

A spokesman for the Belgian foreign ministry, Koen Vervaeke, on Wednesday warned against “contradictory” information circulating about the situation in the DRC capital Kinshasa after shooting was heard on Tuesday. He told IRIN that the only official information, according to “two, reliable, independent sources”, was that President Laurent-Desire Kabila had died after being shot. “The circumstances surrounding the shooting are very unclear, as is the current political and military situation,” Vervaeke said. He added that Interior Minister Gaetan Kakudji was expected to make an official announcement later on Wednesday. Independent sources in Kinshasa told IRIN the situation in the city on Wednesday was tense but calm. There are very few people in the streets. One official said it was a “holiday”. Shooting broke out on Tuesday afternoon around the presidential palace in Kinshasa, prompting fears of a coup attempt. It is not clear at this stage whether the incident was a coup attempt, an assassination attempt or simply shots fired by accident. Kabila was reportedly meeting senior generals at the time to discuss a reorganisation of the military command. According to Belgian radio, one of his bodyguards “probably originating from Kivu” pulled a gun on him during the discussion which, the radio said, had focused on the situation in Katanga province where DRC government forces have suffered a heavy defeat. Part of the anti-Kabila rebellion is based in the Kivu region of eastern DRC. The radio said Kabila died on Tuesday night after being rushed to hospital. A dusk to dawn curfew, announced by Kakudji on Tuesday, was lifted at 06:00 am local time, but the general state of alert remained in place on Wednesday, sources in Kinshasa told IRIN.