Military

DATE=3/30/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= CONGO/COUP (L)

NUMBER=2-314598

BYLINE= DINO MAHTANI

DATELINE=KINSHASA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Calm has returned to the streets of Congo's capital Kinshasa after armed gunmen attacked key military installations in what was an apparent coup attempt on Sunday. The government has identified the attackers as former members of ex-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko's elite bodyguard, but this has caused controversy among former rebel groups that are now part of Congo's power-sharing government. Dino Mahtani reports from Kinshasa.

TEXT: Kinshasa's streets are once busy again as life gets back to normal, following Sunday's clashes across the city center. Following the arrest of 15 armed men and the apparent seizure of a large arms cache that was shown to the press, government officials have concluded that the leadership of the attack and most of the perpetrators belonged to the members of Mr. Mobutu's Special Presidential Division (or D-S-P).

Initial reports suggested that the attackers had come across the river from Brazzaville, the capital of the neighboring Republic of Congo, where hundreds of the former presidential guards are in exile.

Senior government officials have stopped short of saying that the attackers came from Brazzaville but have pointed out that the attacks all happened on or near the Congo River that divides the two cities. They also say that they have closed the river border crossing as part of a security operation. The officials say there were likely to have been internal accomplices to the attack.

This conclusion has angered former rebel groups that are now part of the power-sharing government that was sworn in last year, especially the formerly Ugandan-backed rebel group the M-L-C. Officials of the group say the suggestions that the attacks came from Brazzaville are attempts by the government to point fingers at M-L-C leader Jean Pierre Bemba, who is one of Congo's four vice-presidents. Mr. Bemba has close relations with the former associates of Mr. Mobutu.

But both the M-L-C and the former army officers across the river hotly deny that they have anything to do with each other or Sunday's attack. M-L-C and other rebel leaders have called the government's conclusions simplistic and have asked the interior and defense ministers to explain their conclusions in front of parliament.

Analysts say that the Sunday attacks did not really represent a military threat to President Joseph Kabila's government, but that political fallout could be dangerous in the fragile power-sharing government.

In the latest sign of ongoing political paralysis, the government is again postponing its budget, which so far has no provisions for building institutions for next year's planned elections, or for reintegrating former combatants into the army. (Signed)

NEB/DM/AWP/MEM