Nine killed in Congo palace attack

Gunmen also armed with machetes have attacked Congo’s presidential residence, 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.

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,” Mr Kabila said, according to an adviser. “I am handling the situation wisely.”

Communications Minister Lambert Mende later appeared on national television and said the matter was under control. He said some of the attackers had been killed or wounded, while others were arrested.

“These people wanted to physically harm the president, but the country and all its institutions are functioning normally,” Mr Mende said.

A witness near the presidential residence reported seeing the bodies of seven attackers and two bodyguards.

While eastern Congo is highly volatile with a myriad of rebel groups and militias who terrorise civilians, such violence in the capital, Kinshasa, is rare.

Mr Kabila first took office after his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated in 2001. He was later elected in 2006 in the country’s first democratic election.

In January, Parliament voted to hold only one round of presidential elections, a move considered to favour Mr Kabila’s candidacy by scrapping the chance of a run-off election by allowing a candidate to win with less than 50% of the votes.

The vast, mineral-rich Central African nation was ravaged by years of dictatorship and civil war, preventing its people from profiting from vast reserves of diamonds, gold and other resources.