Kabila reported killed in Congo coup attempt

Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis…

Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said this evening.

The spokesman, Mr Olivier Alsteens, told reporters Mr Michel made the statement in an interview to be broadcast on Belgian television.

Mr Michel was basing the information on two "very reliable" sources, he said.

Mr Alsteens added that the minister was not immediately able to provide further details nor say who was in charge in Kinshasa.

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He added that Mr Michel had contacted his French counterpart, Mr Hubert Vedrine, to share information and examine ways of "ensuring the safety of French and Belgian nationals" in the former Belgian colony.

Mr Vedrine is currently in Yaounde in Cameroon for a Franco-African summit due to open tomorrow that Mr Kabila had been due to attend.

Just moments before the ministerial statement, Belgian public radio RTBF reported from Kinshasa that Kabila had been shot in the back and leg by one of his own security guards and transported by helicopter to a hospital in Kinshasa.

Citing a commander of Kabila's security contingent, the radio said Kabila had been seriously wounded.

Earlier a senior intelligence source in Uganda, which along with Rwanda supports Congolese rebels who have been fighting to overthrow Kabila since August 1998, said the president had been killed in a coup attempt.

"He has died. He was shot by unknown people...earlier today ...I am 101 percent sure he is dead", the senior intelligence source in Kampala told reporters by telephone, saying his information came from intelligence sources in Kinshasa.

"The situation now is very unclear", he said, adding that he did not know who was in control of the city.

South Africa's Foreign Ministry said its mission in Kinshasa had reported a coup attempt, adding that Kabila's fate remained uncertain.

Earlier, Mr Kabila's personal chief of staff, Colonel Edy Kapend, read a message on state television saying the airport and river border had been closed and appealing directly to senior commanders to fire no shots without prior order.

Congolese television continued broadcasts of music and cultural programmes, interrupted occasionally by a still picture of Mr Kabila.

Mr Kabila took power in the mineral-rich former Belgian colony of Zaire in 1997, ousting veteran dictator Mobutu Sese Seko after a seven-month rebellion with the backing of Rwanda and Uganda.

The country is rich in diamonds and gold, as well as copper and cobalt, and blessed with rivers able to generate enough power to light up the whole continent.

Mr Kabila later fell out with his former allies, who now back rebels controlling most of the north and east of Africa's third largest country. Fighting on Mr Kabila's side are Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, while the rebels are backed by Rwanda and Uganda.

Witnesses saw armoured cars and detachments of troops moving on streets near the presidential palace. Soldiers turned back people who tried to approach the building without giving an explanation.

Reuters