DR CONGO: The UN has moved to end gun battles in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital, Kinshasa, between forces loyal to the two candidates in October's presidential run-off. Seven hundred UN and EU soldiers were yesterday being rushed to Kinshasa to deal with the violence.
Up to 400 members of the presidential guard are involved in a tense stand-off with 200 to 300 troops from the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC).
The presidential guard is loyal to outgoing president Joseph Kabila, and the MLC troops are backing their former leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, the outgoing vice-president. Mr Kabila and Mr Bemba are due to battle it out in a presidential run-off on October 29th. In elections results declared on Sunday, Mr Kabila took 45 per cent of the vote, just short of the 50 per cent needed for outright victory, while Mr Bemba gained 20 per cent.
On Monday both groups fought a three-hour battle that trapped almost the entire steering committee for Congo's transition to democracy, and a host of other top diplomats.
One hundred UN troops have been protecting Mr Bemba. A further 240 went on aggressive patrol in the administrative district of Gombe yesterday, to try and flush the remaining armed elements out of the area.
Negotiations also took place at UN headquarters between the MLC and the Congolese ministry of defence.
Gombe has been a battle zone since the election results were announced on Sunday night. Mr Bemba has huge support in Kinshasa, having taken four times as many votes from the city as Mr Kabila did.
The seriousness of the crisis became apparent on Monday when almost the entire diplomatic corps was trapped in Mr Bemba's house as President Kabila's presidential guard fought a violent battle with 200 pro-Bemba militia members. The scene was described as "open warfare" by one eyewitness.
The bulk of the UN (Monuc) and EU (Eufor) reinforcements are not due to arrive in Kinshasa until at least this afternoon. Others might take until the early hours of Thursday morning to reach the city.
Several buildings in Kinshasa were burning yesterday, including the headquarters of the national intelligence agency.
Among the many people caught up in the fighting were housemates Linda Newport, from Limerick, who works for the European Commission, and Trócaire's Una McGurk, from Birr in Co Offaly. Their house is less than a kilometre from Nelson Mandela roundabout, scene of the major fighting.
"We've been stuck in here since Saturday," said Linda. "The serious fighting started on Monday afternoon and went on all night. We kept the place in darkness and turned off the air conditioning so as not to draw attention to ourselves.
"Today there was fighting next door to us. A guy started shooting from a building beside our house. We hid in the bathroom and could hear something whistling over the house followed by a boom."
Two hundred South African soldiers from the Monuc grouping are being redeployed from the eastern city of Kisangani, and will be joined in the capital by up to 500 Dutch and German troops, who are being flown in from Gabon. The Dutch and German troops are part of Eufor DRC, which is half way through its four-month mission to help secure Congo's first democratic elections in 40 years.
On Monday Eufor's 100 Spanish legionnaires, many of them South Americans, were called in by the UN to help quell the fire-fight outside Jean-Pierre Bemba's house. The fighting broke out after the authorities attempted to disarm Mr Bemba's bodyguards at his residence, just off the city's main boulevard.
Inside the Bemba residence, dozens of high-ranking diplomats and members of the committee that is overseeing Congo's transition to democracy were attempting to broker a meeting between the presidential rivals in the wake of Sunday's violence.
That violence had erupted after policemen opened fire on Mr Bemba's entourage as they tried to enter a pro-Bemba TV station, CCTV, allegedly to make a premature election announcement.
The trapped delegates included UN secretary general Kofi Annan's special representative in Congo, William Swing, and most of the city's ambassadors.
Mr Bemba's guards refused to disarm, according to military sources, and the fire-fight quickly escalated into a battle between hundreds of troops.
The fighting between the rival factions involved machine guns, rockets and grenades. At one point, the presidential guard used field artillery against Mr Bemba's men.
It is understood that the Senegalese commander of the UN forces in Congo, Lieut Gen Gaye, braved the gun battle to beseech both sides to stop the fighting, and went so far as to hold back armed men.
Mr Kabila's regime has blamed Mr Bemba's troops for the violence, because of their refusal to disarm. However, the president faces questions over why hundreds of his praetorian guard were sent to do a job more suited to a smaller police contingent.