Kabila

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• Coalition unraveling
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KINSHASA, Congo (CNN) -- Congo army troops and Rwandan mercenaries on Monday rebelled against President Laurent Kabila, who used troops loyal to him to maintain order in the streets of the nation's capital.

Gunfire rang out at army barracks in Kinshasa, and military forces in the east declared themselves in open rebellion. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was implemented in Kinshasa, a city of 5 million people.

"The government asks the people of Congo and those foreigners here in the country to stay calm and to stay at home until order is restored," said an abrupt announcement Monday morning on state-controlled People's Radio. "Stay at home just until that time when the armed forces of Congo re-establish civil order."

Rwandan mercenaries that helped propel Kabila to power last year apparently have turned on him. A Rwandan official said a 435-mile stretch between two towns in the eastern Kivu region bordering Congo was in revolt.

In Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, Maj. Ilunga Kabambi, the commander of the Congolese army in the region, said via telephone that he and members of the 222nd Brigade were "not in agreement with the president."

In a statement read on the Goma-based Voice of the People radio station and monitored in Rwanda's capital Kigali, the Congolese 10th battalion said it was in revolt against Kabila.

"We, the army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have taken the decision to remove President Laurent Desire Kabila from power," battalion commander Sylvain Mbuchy said.

Commander Bilonga Kabanda urged all Congolese citizens via radio to rise up against Kabila, accusing him of abuses ranging from nepotism to corruption.

Kabila has been growing suspicious of Rwandan troops. Last week, he ordered all Rwandan soldiers to leave the country, and he fired James Kabari, a Rwandan Tutsi who had been his top military commander.

Troops loyal to Kabila were setting up roadblocks throughout Kinshasa on Monday and were searching for Rwandan Tutsi soldiers. A defense minister said loyalist troops had been ordered to kill any Rwandan soldiers found in the city.

The rebellion is a sign that the coalition that brought Kabila to power 14 months ago by ousting former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko is crumbling.

Rwandan troops played an important role in bringing Kabila to power. But Rwanda has been frustrated by Congo's inability to stop Hutu cross-border attacks into Rwanda.

In eastern Congo, the Banyamulenge Tutsi population has become increasingly opposed to Kabila's rule.

Congo Deputy Interior Minister Faustin Mwenze said there was no formal evidence of Rwandan government involvement. "We have not yet got an indication that the Rwandan government is involved but we suspect there are Rwandan elements," he said.

Rwanda's foreign minister said Rwanda was not involved in the rebellion. "The crisis now rising in Kinshasa and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo is purely an internal matter, and the government of Rwanda is not involved in any way," Anastase Gasana was quoted as saying by the private Rwandan News Agency.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.