Clashes threaten Congo cease-fire

Few civilians appeared to have any faith in the cease-fire. The streets were deserted except for heavily armed gunmen and convoys of well-protected French soldiers looking for foreigners to assist. The radio station of militia leader Gen Denis Sassou-Nguesso resumed anti-government broadcasts on Thursday and claimed Sassou-Nguesso was in control of 75 per cent of the city. A French military spokesman said the figure was closer to 50 per cent. President Pascal Lissouba and Sassou-Nguesso announced their truce after a week of clashes that broke out when Lissouba attempted to disarm Sassou-Nguesso’s private cobra militia. On Thursday, the smell of decomposing bodies wafted through streets littered with spent cartridges, clothing, papers, appliances, furniture and other goods dropped or discarded by looters.

Journalists accompanying a convoy through the cobra-held Mpila neighbourhood saw the body of a child apparently killed in cross fire, blood from a head wound pooling near his school bag. A man lay dead in a doorway among the burned buildings and bullet-pocked walls.

About 3,200 people have been airlifted out of the city, including 500 on Thursday. They included more than a dozen Russians picked up at the Russian embassy and five US embassy men.