Kinshasa

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Government forces put down an apparent coup attempt in the Congolese capital yesterday, battling attackers believed loyal to deceased former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. It was the most serious political strife to hit the city since the end of Congo's ruinous five-year war. The government refused to characterize the deadly firefights as an attempted overthrow, but Interior Minister Theophile Mbemba said the attack would not destabilize President Joseph Kabila's government -- a national-unity administration struggling to reassert control over its vast,...

. ½ VIVA RIVA! Written and directed by: Djo Tunda Wa Munga Starring: Patsha Bay, Manie Malone, Hoji Fortuna At: Kendall Square Running time: 98 minutes Unrated (as R: brutal beatings, graphic sex, language) In French and Lingala, with subtitles ‘Viva Riva!’’ has its cake and eats it, too. Shoots it to pieces, actually. The first film from the Democratic Republic of Congo to make it to these shores is a slick, propulsive crime drama whose influences include rap videos, the 1972 cult classic “The Harder They Come,’’ and every Warner Brothers gangster movie...

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — A boat ferrying about 200 passengers to Congo’s capital capsized after hitting a mud bank. At least 80 people were confirmed dead, a government spokesman said yesterday, and news reports said as many as 60 more passengers were missing and feared dead. Rescuers were searching for missing people after the disaster on the Kasai River, a tributary of the Congo River. The boat, the HB Yedu, was heading to Kinshasa from the Kwilu district of Bandundu Province, on the western border of the country.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Men wielding guns and machetes attacked the presidential residence here yesterday, and at least nine people were killed during nearly an hour of gunfire, a witness said. The president and his wife were not home at the time of the assault. President Joseph Kabila, who first inherited the job after his father’s assassination, blamed opponents ahead of the elections set for November. “It is these people who fear facing me in the elections who did this,’’ Kabila said, according to an adviser.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Men wielding guns and machetes attacked the presidential residence here yesterday, and at least nine people were killed during nearly an hour of gunfire, a witness said. The president and his wife were not home at the time of the assault. President Joseph Kabila, who first inherited the job after his father’s assassination, blamed opponents ahead of the elections set for November. “It is these people who fear facing me in the elections who did this,’’ Kabila said, according to an adviser.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Ever wonder where America's yellow school buses go to die? Some don't -- they find a second life on Central Africa's rutted, traffic-choked roads. Boxy buses that once carted American children now haul Congo's impoverished people, young and old -- and their loads of preserved fish, powdered milk, beans, and onions. Charging breakneck around the capital, the yellow buses rattle fiercely as they crash through the potholes peppering Kinshasa's roads.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Forces loyal to Congo's leader crushed a coup attempt yesterday by renegades within his own presidential guard in fighting that sent gunfire and explosions echoing through the capital of Africa's third-largest nation. The crisis was the second this month for the 14-month-old government led by President Joseph Kabila, established to close a 1998-2002 war that was Africa's deadliest ever. Kabila, appearing on state TV in khaki uniform hours after the uprising's leaders were sent fleeing, told Congolese to brace for future challenges.

KINSHASA, Congo — A military court yesterday sentenced to death a British-Norwegian national and a Norwegian convicted of espionage and murder, a court official said. Joshua French, the dual national, and Tjostolv Moland, both former Norwegian soldiers, were convicted last year of murdering their driver and attempting to murder a witness. The alleged motive is unknown. The court in the northeastern city of Kisangani also convicted them of spying for Norway because they were carrying military ID cards at the time.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- The incumbent president has won a tense runoff, nearly complete election results showed yesterday . He now has to make order out of the chaos that long has plagued a country that is bursting with natural resources and teeming with former warlords. First, Joseph Kabila, 35, must placate his rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former rebel leader whose fighters have clashed with his in central Kinshasa twice over election results. Bemba's supporters issued a bellicose statement yesterday saying their count gave Bemba a...

GOMA, Congo - With a cease-fire appearing to halt most fighting, a rebel leader said yesterday that he wanted direct talks with the Congo government on ending violence in the region, and envoys from the United States and United Nations were dispatched to help set up negotiations. Sporadic gunfire could still be heard last night in Goma, the provincial capital of eastern Congo, but the city was calm for much of the day. That was in sharp contrast to Wednesday, when tens of thousands of residents, refugees, and government soldiers fled in a chaotic torrent...

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — A boat ferrying about 200 passengers to Congo’s capital capsized after hitting a mud bank. At least 80 people were confirmed dead, a government spokesman said yesterday, and news reports said as many as 60 more passengers were missing and feared dead. Rescuers were searching for missing people after the disaster on the Kasai River, a tributary of the Congo River. The boat, the HB Yedu, was heading to Kinshasa from the Kwilu district of Bandundu Province, on the western border of the country.

KINSHASA, Congo — A military court yesterday sentenced to death a British-Norwegian national and a Norwegian convicted of espionage and murder, a court official said. Joshua French, the dual national, and Tjostolv Moland, both former Norwegian soldiers, were convicted last year of murdering their driver and attempting to murder a witness. The alleged motive is unknown. The court in the northeastern city of Kisangani also convicted them of spying for Norway because they were carrying military ID cards at the time.

GOMA, Congo - With a cease-fire appearing to halt most fighting, a rebel leader said yesterday that he wanted direct talks with the Congo government on ending violence in the region, and envoys from the United States and United Nations were dispatched to help set up negotiations. Sporadic gunfire could still be heard last night in Goma, the provincial capital of eastern Congo, but the city was calm for much of the day. That was in sharp contrast to Wednesday, when tens of thousands of residents, refugees, and government soldiers fled in a...

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- The incumbent president has won a tense runoff, nearly complete election results showed yesterday . He now has to make order out of the chaos that long has plagued a country that is bursting with natural resources and teeming with former warlords. First, Joseph Kabila, 35, must placate his rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former rebel leader whose fighters have clashed with his in central Kinshasa twice over election results. Bemba's supporters issued a bellicose statement yesterday saying their count gave Bemba a...

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Ever wonder where America's yellow school buses go to die? Some don't -- they find a second life on Central Africa's rutted, traffic-choked roads. Boxy buses that once carted American children now haul Congo's impoverished people, young and old -- and their loads of preserved fish, powdered milk, beans, and onions. Charging breakneck around the capital, the yellow buses rattle fiercely as they crash through the potholes peppering Kinshasa's roads.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Forces loyal to Congo's leader crushed a coup attempt yesterday by renegades within his own presidential guard in fighting that sent gunfire and explosions echoing through the capital of Africa's third-largest nation. The crisis was the second this month for the 14-month-old government led by President Joseph Kabila, established to close a 1998-2002 war that was Africa's deadliest ever. Kabila, appearing on state TV in khaki uniform hours after the uprising's leaders were sent fleeing, told Congolese to brace for future challenges.

. ½ VIVA RIVA! Written and directed by: Djo Tunda Wa Munga Starring: Patsha Bay, Manie Malone, Hoji Fortuna At: Kendall Square Running time: 98 minutes Unrated (as R: brutal beatings, graphic sex, language) In French and Lingala, with subtitles ‘Viva Riva!’’ has its cake and eats it, too. Shoots it to pieces, actually. The first film from the Democratic Republic of Congo to make it to these shores is a slick, propulsive crime drama whose influences include rap videos, the 1972 cult classic “The Harder They Come,’’ and every Warner Brothers gangster movie...

A Congolese general already sought on an international arrest warrant for his alleged use of child soldiers during an earlier conflict has forcibly recruited another 149 boys and teenagers since April, according to a Human Rights Watch investigation published Wednesday. The children and teens were abducted from their homes, their schools, from fields and the sides of roads in eastern Congo. They were beaten if they resisted, complained or walked too slowly, according to the report.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Government forces put down an apparent coup attempt in the Congolese capital yesterday, battling attackers believed loyal to deceased former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. It was the most serious political strife to hit the city since the end of Congo's ruinous five-year war. The government refused to characterize the deadly firefights as an attempted overthrow, but Interior Minister Theophile Mbemba said the attack would not destabilize President Joseph Kabila's government -- a national-unity administration struggling to reassert control over its vast,...