Kinshasa - Two days of shelling from the Congo Republic capital, Brazzaville, have killed 31 people in Kinshasa, neighbouring capital of the former Zaire, a senior government official said yesterday. Gen Faustin Munene, deputy interior minister of the renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo, confirmed the death toll, including three children.
Shells fired on Monday from Brazzaville - where rival supporters of President Pascal Lissouba and his predecessor, Denis Sassou Nguesso, have been locked in a bloody power struggle since June - killed 17 people in Kinshasa. Yesterday's barrage coincided with a national day of mourning for those killed on Monday. Democratic Congo President Laurent Kabila cut short a visit to Zambia, denouncing Monday's incidents as "a clear sign of provocation", and returned to hold an emergency cabinet meeting.