The Belgian embassy in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, said at the weekend it had taken the initiative to place two Hercules 730 planes on stand-by in Libreville, Gabon, after consultations with DRC and Gabonese authorities. Congolese television quoted the embassy as saying that the move was strictly limited to “reassuring the Belgian community” and did not mean that 35 armed elements, who have been placed on stand-by in Libreville, would later be sent to Kinshasa. There was now no question now of evacuating Belgians from Kinshasa, it added.
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