Reaction to DRC crisis

The Namibian government said on Wednesday its 2,000 troops would remain deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), despite the reported assassination on Tuesday of President Laurent-Desire Kabila. "The Namibian government is closely monitoring the situation ... our troops remain in their defensive positions," foreign affairs secretary Mocks Shivute was quoted as saying.

Namibia, Zimbabwe and Angola sent troops to the DRC to prop up Kabila in his four-year civil war against rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda. Meanwhile, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola convened an emergency meeting of the Angolan government on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the DRC.

Foreign Minister Joao Miranda was quoted by Angolan national radio as saying that Angola "vehemently denounced" Kabila's "attempted" assassination and "hoped the crisis would not upset initiatives underway to re-luanch inter-Congolese dialogue". Miranda added that Luanda awaited word from DRC "military authorities" before announcing a formal position on its "alignment with the DRC government".

The South African government's security committee also met on Wednesday to discuss the Congo situation, a government spokesman said. Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa was quoted as saying that the cabinet's International Relations Peace and Security Cluster had convened in Pretoria. He said that South Africa would not comment on the possible death of Kabila until it had "formal word" from the DRC government. "We are awaiting an official and formal statement on the state of Kabila. Until then we are not able to comment," Mamoepa said.