Word: congos
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Crises seemed to sprout like weeds while Chou was on the continent-Zanzibar's government fell in a bloody coup; the armies of Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda mutinied; poison arrows began flying in the Congo. And although he claimed no responsibility for the flare-ups ("We Chinese are often surprised by compliments we do not deserve," he quipped dryly in Somalia), many Africans found it hard to swallow such a spate of coincidences. Whether he was guilty or not, they were glad to see Chou out of Africa...
Before the insurrection flared six weeks ago, Kwilu was considered the Congo's "model province," one of the few regions with enough qualified men to run a provincial government. Today hundreds of its bridges are destroyed, at least 150 villages have been burned, and 120 local officials assassinated...
...mainly of the Bapende tribe, whose members are concentrated not only in Kwilu but also in Unité Kasaienne to the east, and in Kwango province to the west. The government's biggest immediate concern was that they might cut off the Kasai River, through which the Congo's copper from Katanga currently travels to the Atlantic port of Matadi...
Where to Watch? Given the Congo's endemic anarchy, the government can ill afford to spare many troops. Leopoldville, as usual, is seething with discontent. Last week 200 Leopoldville soldiers had to be jailed when they refused to go to Kwilu. Volatile Katanga, where the secessionist rebellion was crushed a year ago, still harbors roaming bands of ex-gendarmes...
...weak is the Congolese control of its borders that last week 3,000 spear-wielding Watutsi tribesmen exiled in the Congo's eastern reaches mounted an attack on their neighboring homeland, Rwanda, out of revenge for the recent genocidal slaughter there of thousands of Watutsi by the ruling Bahutu tribe. They were driven back by the Belgian-officered Rwanda army at a cost of 300 Watutsi dead...