Kinshasa - President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday returned to Kinshasa after several weeks of absence amid fighting, while his regime vaunted its success in having rebels isolated from ceasefire talks.
Mr Kabila flew back to the capital, which also saw the easing of a curfew and the return of electricity, from Lubumbashi, 1,600 km away in his native mineral-rich Katanga province.
He warned on national radio that the Congo should "prepare for a long, hard war . . . against the Ugandan and Rwandan aggressors" who, he said, "aim to overthrow the democratic government and impose on us their diktat."
He called on "the populations of the east," under rebel control, to "show the same fighting spirit as the people of Kinshasa".