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Vol 52 No 6

Published 18th March 2011


Congo-Kinshasa

Real bullets, phoney coup

Suspicions abound about the government’s account of a small but deadly attack near the President’s home

The government called it a terrorist attack but what actually happened is still not clear. The raid on one of President Joseph Kabila’s homes came in the early afternoon of 27 February, a Sunday, when a couple of dozen soldiers forced their way past a roadblock manned by the Garde républicaine in the smart Gombé district of central Kinshasa and were stopped at a second barrier. First reports said that six of the attackers died, along with one Republican Guard. This was later revised to eleven attackers and eight Guardsmen, according to police Spokesman, Colonel Lole Onyondo. Day by day the number of alleged raiders rose, eventually reaching 126, of whom 80 were arrested.

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