March 11, 1999
Web posted at: 9:21 a.m. EDT (0921 GMT)

LONDON (CNN) -- Britain on Thursday denied that five of its officials who were told to leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo were spies. London said the men had been working on contingency planning for a possible evacuation of its embassy in the capital, Kinshasa.

"These people were not spies. Their purpose was wholly innocent and we would have been guilty of irresponsibility had those plans not been put forward," junior Foreign Minister Tony Lloyd told British radio.

The five British men -- one diplomat and four officials sent from London, as well as a U.S. official, were due to fly to Britain on Thursday after Kinshasa ordered them out on Wednesday.

The expulsion order followed the arrest of three Americans in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Sunday. Congo's Interior Minister Gaetan Kakudji accused that group of planning to assassinate Congolese President Laurent Kabila.

The Congolese had earlier ordered the expulsion of another British Embassy official.

Kabila's government, supported by troops from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Chad, has since August faced a serious rebel insurgency launched by ethnic Tutsi rebels, mainly in the east of the vast country.

The Tutsi rebels have military support from Uganda and Rwanda. Burundi also reportedly has troops across the border, but has not officially acknowledged it.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo
Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo
British Embassy in the USA

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