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'Crucial' weekend ahead in Congo

Troops

Truce deadline to expire; French troops to complete pullout

June 20, 1997
Web posted at: 1:24 p.m. EDT (1724 GMT)

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (CNN) -- With no political solution to this country's civil war in sight, a "crucial" weekend lay ahead as a truce was due to end and French troops were scheduled to complete their withdrawal.

U.N. envoy Mohammed Sahnoun said African mediators in Gabon would ask the U.N. Security Council to support deployment of an inter-African force to help restore peace to the Congolese capital.

Sahnoun said Thursday that the two rivals struggling for power -- President Pascal Lissouba and former dictator Gen. Denis Sassou-Nguesso -- had raised no objections.

The two sides have observed a cease-fire since midnight Tuesday and pledged to extend it for "as long as possible" after it officially ends Friday at midnight (2300 GMT).

France plans to complete its pullout of 1,250 troops, who have evacuated 5,700 people, in the next few days despite pleas from Sahnoun for some to stay.

"If the entire operation goes as planned, (it) should be completed before Sunday, June 22," the defense ministry in Paris said.

Catherine Bond reports on the chances for peace in the Republic of Congo

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The sheer number of soldiers deployed around the presidential palace in Brazzaville suggests the government anticipates a battle for key areas of the city once French troops are gone.

"The weekend will be crucial, with only a very small and dwindling French presence left," a Western security officer in the capital city of Brazzaville said by telephone.

South Africa urged its nationals on Friday not to travel to the Republic of Congo, calling the current situation there unstable.

Corpses photo

Although the guns and artillery were quiet, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the only relief group still on the ground in Brazzaville, failed on Thursday to start its operation to help bury several hundred corpses that lie rotting where they were fell during the fighting.

"We certainly hope it will start (on Friday)," Red Cross spokesman Nick Sommer said.

Fighting erupted June 5 when the army surrounded Sassou-Nguesso's home in a crackdown on private militias and unauthorized arms prior to a presidential election scheduled for July 27.

"We really want to capture Lissouba and torture him because he's a bandit," said one of Sassou-Nguesso's militiamen.

Sassou-Nguesso, who ran the country as a Marxist dictator for a decade before Lissouba won an election, claimed the president sparked the clashes to have an excuse to delay the vote and keep power. Both men are running in the election.

"We're for talking with international mediators," said Sassou-Nguesso. "But we know President Lissouba is incapable of organizing presidential elections."

Despite the bloodshed and confrontational atmosphere, the mayor of Brazzaville hopes reason will prevail. "I've already said the one-party system is over in Africa," said Bernard Kolelas. "Democracy is the only way and I haven't heard anything to the contrary from Sassou or Lissouba."

Correspondent Catherine Bond and Reuters contributed to this report.

 
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