Soldiers in flip-flops reach their goal

Kabila's exhausted rebels lost their way en route to liberate Kinshasa, writes Ed O'Loughlin

Kinshasa - When the first column of troops from the Alliance of Democratic Forces entered central Kinshasa this weekend they did so by accident, losing their way in the broad streets of a city none had visited before.

We came across them late in the afternoon on Saturday, a company of over 100 heavily burdened men standing patiently in single file along the deserted Rue des Poids Lourds. After an officer tried half-heartedly to shoo us away, we fell into step with them as they moved off towards the city centre.

They seemed dog-tired: a young private said they had spent the night at the airport and had marched 25 kilometres that day, fighting a brief action along the way.

"Have you come far?" we asked another young soldier, who had a bag of rifle grenades balanced on his head.

"About 3,000 kilometres."

The rebels' combat uniforms, issued six months ago on the other side of Zaire, were now blackened and greasy, and the order of march was loose, but there was no mistaking the superiority of these soldiers over Mobutu's untrained Forces Armees Zairoises.

As the main body loped along at a steady pace, half a dozen heavily armed scouts kept station 200 yards to the front, cautiously checking each inter- section before waving their comrades on. Sporadic firing could still be heard nearby as the remnants of Mobutu's army shot ammunition off into the air. The soldiers were silent and intent, scarcely even acknowledging the cheers and applause from the first small groups of civilians to see them advancing down the empty street.

Where the Rue des Poids Lourds bends into the city's main Boulevard de 30 Juin they stopped to talk to a small group of civilians, then doubled back and turned into the Avenue Wagenia, running down to the Congo River's banks.

"They wanted to know where the port was," said a friendly old man from Kasai.

The cautious advance continued, but the scouts walked right past the port buildings and the main body followed them. Small groups of black civilians were joined by clusters of European and Lebanese expatriates, cheering from the gates and walls of their compounds.

The ambush, when it came, was not the type the soldiers were prepared for. Word had got out of their presence and as the company crossed the intersection with the Avenue de la Nation, a large crowd came sweep- ing down from the Boulevard de 30 Juin, chanting: "Congo Libre, Congo Libre" - "Congo is free".

The order of march was disrupted as delighted civilians tried to embrace the troops. Most were too tired to even raise a smile. An officer got angry and fired his Kalashnikov into the air to clear the road.

In all the confusion someone must have asked the rebels where they thought they were going, because once again the troops had to retrace their steps. They had passed their destination by more than a kilometre, inadvertently liberating downtown Kinshasa in the process.

There was no resistance at the ferry port. The officers and their scouts walked straight on to the pier. At the end of the pier they came to a halt among the silently moored ferry boats. For five minutes they stood there, leaning on their rifles and gazing out over the broad Congo as the sun died in the west and the lights came on across the river in Brazzaville.

"Bien commence, bien fini," saida tacitum officer who called himself Commandant Jave. Well begun and well ended.

Yesterday morning, rebel units drove in to occupy the city centre on trucks, not even bothering to deploy for combat. Their journey, which began eight months and 3,000 kilometres ago in South Kivu, was over.

Return to Congo

The new regime is intent on erasing the name of Zaire as well as ending the rule of President Mobutu Sese Seko, changing to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This reverts to the name used for the former Belgian colony from 1964 until Mobutu declared in 1971 that the country should be known as Zaire. It is unclear how the rebels aim to avoid confusion with the neighbouring Republic of Congo. The rebels have also changed the name of the mighty Zaire River back to the Congo, and given back provinces their pre-Mobutu names. Haut-Zaire has become Eastern province, and the mineral-rich southern province of Shaba has reverted to Katanga.