Rebel Republic Proclaimed

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30541, 9 September 1964, Page 17

Rebel Republic Proclaimed

(N.Z.P.A .-Reuter—Copyright) LEOPOLDVILLE, September 8. Piebels holding Stanleyville, the Congo’s third largest city, have announced the formation of “The Peoples Republic of the Congo.”

A broadcast from Stanleyville says the Government is headed by Mr Christophe Gbenye, who was Minister of the Interior in the Congo’s first independent government formed by the late Patrice Lumumba in 1960.

Mr Gbenye is named Prime Minister and Mr Gaston Soumialot, who has been leading the rebellion in North Katanga and Kivu, is named Defence Minister. Mr Francois Sabiti, a minister in the first government formed after independence in Orientale Province, is Minister of Public Works. Rebels took Stanleyville, an important centre of communications and capital of Haut Congo Province, on August 5. Last week the rebel authorities there, who recently purged their government, refused permission to United Nations-Red Cross mercy flights to land there on the grounds that they were an “imperialist lot.” No direct word has been heard in Leopoldville for some days from several Europeans and some Ameri-

can diplomats still in Stanleyville. Western diplomats here said they were not surprised by the declaration of the new government, and it could now be expected to try to gain diplomatic recognition from other nations. The broadcast claimed the rebels controlled threequarters of the whole of the Congo, but to informed sources here this appeared an exaggeration. Rebels in Cuvette Centrale Province appeared to be preparing for an attack on Coquilhatville, the province's capital. Reliable reports said they had attacked Boende, southeast of Coquilhatville, but there was no indication they had taken the town.

During the last week the central Government has moved reinforcements into Cuvette Centrale.