CONGO: BRAZZAVILLE: PLANE CARRYING BELGIAN TROOPS ARRIVES IN CAPITAL

Описание: (24 Mar 1997) English/Nat

Belgium is joining France and the U-S in sending troops to the Central African nation of Congo in order to prepare for a possible evacuation of their nationals from neighbouring Zaire.

The first 35 troops of a 550 strong military task force arrived in the Congo capital of Brazzaville Monday.

The C-130 transport plane carrying the first wave of Belgian troops touched down in the Congo capital of Brazzaville Monday.

Belgium is sending a military task force to Brazzaville in order to prepare for the possible evacuation of their citizens in war-torn neighbouring Zaire.

The plane carrying some 35 paratroopers arrived via Libreville in neighbouring Gabon.

515 more Belgian paras left Brussels Monday afternoon en route to Congo.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Like the other nations, we are positioning some forces in the event of a necessary evacuation of expatriates from Zaire to the other side of the river."
SUPER CAPTION: Van de Weghe, Commander Belgian Air Force

France and Belgium are sending troops to the area in case the 7-thousand Europeans in Zaire - most of them in the capital Kinshasa - need to get out quickly.

The United States is also deploying troops in case Kinshasa erupts into violence.

The U-S expect to have 200 U-S soldiers in Brazzaville within the next couple days and another 100 or so in Libreville.

An estimated 500 American civilians live in Zaire, about 320 of them in Kinshasa.

Rebels opposed to ailing President Mobutu Sese Seko control a vast swathe of eastern Zaire, and their leaders denounce talk of cease-fires.

Kinshasa lies just a few kilometers (miles) away from Brazzaville on the other side of the vast Zaire River.

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