Congo seeks trial for former warlord
2007/3
By EDDY ISANGO, Associated Press Writer 30 minutes ago
KINSHASA, Congo - President Joseph Kabila demanded Monday that a failed presidential candidate and former warlord face justice in Congo‘s courts following two days of deadly clashes in the capital.
Kabila said he would not negotiate with Benba: "It‘s not by negotiations that we will assure security." He asked that the law be applied to the former warlord who lost to Kabila in last year‘s presidential race.
Kabila denounced the violence, calling it a sad new turn in the volatile politics of Congo, a sprawling Central African country wracked by civil war and dictatorship before an October vote installed Kabila as its first freely elected president in more than four decades.
It was still unclear what sparked the fighting that broke out Thursday. Morning shooting gave way to mortar fire in the afternoon that day and people streamed out of the capital. During the fighting, mortar rounds set fire to buildings, landing as far as 2 1/2 miles away in Brazzaville, the capital of the neighboring Republic of Congo. Government forces regained control in the capital on Friday and fighting had stopped by Saturday.
The government‘s provisional toll stood at at least 60 dead and 74 injured, according to a statement by Communications Minister Toussaint Tshilombo Send that was broadcast on U.N.-backed radio.
Bemba‘s forces also were involved in violence at the time of the elections, after he initially refused to accept defeat. Violent clashes then that left a dozen dead.
Mineral-rich Congo has been ravaged by years of dictatorship and civil war that have kept the people of the sprawling Central African country from profiting from its vast reserves of diamonds, gold and other resources. The nation the size of Western Europe has few roads, and little electricity outside major cities.
