Democratic Republic of Congo army says it stopped attempted coup

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00:00We begin in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a developing story.

00:04Earlier this Saturday, Sunday, gunfire was heard in the capital, Kinshasa.

00:09The Saudi press reported that men in military uniform clashed with guards of a politician

00:16near the president's office.

00:18Let's speak to our correspondent to try to get some clarity on this situation, Emmett

00:23Livingston, standing by on the line from Kinshasa.

00:26Hello to you, Emmett.

00:28What is the situation right now in the capital?

00:32The situation in the capital at the moment is confused, but it appears to be under control.

00:37There's strong military presence around the major checkpoints in Kinshasa.

00:43And the army just gave a statement less than an hour ago saying that they had just thwarted

00:49an attempted coup, but that the situation was under control and that they had arrested

00:55several Congolese people and several foreigners.

00:58An attempted coup thwarted there in the capital.

01:02What's the broader context in the DRC at the moment?

01:05So the DRC, especially in its eastern region, is in a conflict.

01:10The M23 rebel groups backed by Rwanda have captured huge amounts of territory.

01:16So there's a great deal of instability.

01:18There's also political instability.

01:21The elections, which were highly criticized, happened in December and in January, and it's

01:27now May and a government still hasn't been formed.

01:29So there's been a huge amount of political infighting over who gets awarded the government

01:38jobs.

01:39In Emmett, one of the wires we're having here in the newsroom says that this attempted coup

01:47involved Congolese, but also foreign fighters.

01:51Any idea what that means, foreign fighters?

01:57At the moment, it's very difficult to say anything with clarity.

02:00There are videos that are circulating on social media that appear to show a white person who

02:07was among the fighters that committed the attack today.

02:13But to go any further than that at the moment is difficult to say with any clarity.

02:17And the Congolese government itself only talked about foreigners, didn't specify.

02:23We'll be trying to follow that situation throughout the day here on France 24.

02:26Emmett, thank you very much.

02:27Emmett Livingston reporting from Kinshasa.

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