Rebels controlling the Democratic Republic of Congo's key Inga hydroelectric dam - which supplies the capital, Kinshasa - are continuing to generate it to avoid hardship for civilians, a rebel commander said yesterday.
Col Alphonse Panza also said a fuel pipeline from Matadi had been shut down on Saturday after rebel forces took control of the port, which supplies all of Kinshasa's fuel import needs.
"We won't penalise the population in Kinshasa because this is also their war," Col Panzu said at the dam. "We have a responsibility to that population and the rest of the country."
Inga also supplies electricity to the key copper-producing region of Shaba and neighbouring Republic of Congo's capital, Brazzaville.
Rebels said yesterday that the ports of both Boma and Matadi were under their control before the 372 km fuel pipeline was shut down. Col Panzu said rebel forces advancing from Matadi were approaching Mbanza Ngungu, a position around 150 km south-west of Kinshasa.
Another rebel leader, Cmdr Dieudonne Kabengele, dismissed government claims that Boma and Matadi were still in the hands of troops loyal to President Laurent Kabila. "We are advancing and our forces are now approaching Mbanza Ngungu," he said.
"The advance towards Kinshasa is on several fronts. We have been fighting in some parts on the way but in other parts forces are rebelling and joining us," Cmdr Kabengele said. "We should be in Kinshasa within a week to be sure."
In Brussels, sources close to the rebellion accused the government of "distributing machetes to uncontrollable young drug addicts." Warning that Kinshasa could "fall anytime", the sources said a decisive fight would occur at Lubum bashi in the south-west, which President Kabila was building into a fortress "with the help of Cuban and Vietnamese mercenaries".
The government of President Kabila put on a calm front in the face of Tutsi-rebel claims that they have taken one-third of the huge west African state and are approaching the capital.
President Kabila has accused neighbouring Rwanda and Ugan da of backing the rebels. His Information Minister, Mr Didier Mumengi, dismissed the Tutsi rebels from the east of the country as "groups of bandits", saying that government forces had turned Matadi into a major base from which they were conducting search operations against rebels.
As the rebels warned they were closing in on the capital, hundreds of foreigners were fleeing the former Zaire, aided by troops from several European states.
A senior Kabila government official expressed surprise at the abrupt departure of foreign nationals. "I don't see why they're all going at the same time," Mr Zbdoulaye Yerodia said. "If they know something we don't know, maybe they could tell us."
But western governments were taking no chances over the weekend. The US closed its embassy and shipped out staff on Saturday, and a special Belgian flight left at midday yesterday from Kinshasa.
A French government aircraft carrying 187 people fleeing the fighting in Congo arrived yesterday in Paris. The plane was carrying 87 French people, while the rest came from about a dozen other countries. Most of the evacuees had crossed the river from Kinshasa to Brazzaville.
The Dutch government also evacuated 21 Dutch citizens and other EU nationals.
More than 100 evacuees from Congo - including five South African embassy workers and five Britons - arrived yesterday in Pretoria.
Britain also sent 50 marines to Brazzaville yesterday to prepare to evacuate an estimated 200 Britons.