Turkish police purge spreads

8 January 2014 Last updated at 04:59 ET

Police chiefs in at least 15 of Turkey's 81 provinces have been dismissed as the government struggles to contain a corruption scandal.

The chief of police in the capital Ankara was among those removed from his post, a day after 350 of his officers were reassigned or sacked.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the police of seeking to undermine his government.

Relatives of some of his ministers were arrested last month for corruption.

A crackdown on the police force in Istanbul, the biggest city, followed.

It was not immediately clear on what grounds the police chiefs in Ankara, Izmir and other parts of the country had been removed on Tuesday night.

In another development, the ruling party submitted a bill to parliament that would give the government more say over the appointment of judges and prosecutors.

Correspondents are connecting the crisis to a feud between Erdogan supporters and allies of Fethullah Gulen, an influential Islamic scholar living in self-imposed exile in the US.

'Political plotting'

Ankara police chief Kadir Ay lost his job hours after key members of the force in the capital, including the heads of the financial crimes, anti-smuggling and organised crime units, were dismissed.

In Izmir, the country's third city, police chief Ali Bilkay was reassigned shortly after officials at the city's port were arrested on suspicion of corruption.

Continue reading the main story

• Hizmet ("service") is the Turkish name of what is commonly known as the Gulen movement
• The movement is inspired by the teachings of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the US
• There is no formal structure but its followers are numbered in the millions

Police chiefs were also dismissed in Adana, Antalya, Bursa, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kocaeli, Malatya, Mersin, Sakarya, Samsun and Trabzon, the Turkish daily Hurriyet writes.

A deputy head of the national police department, named by the paper as Muammer Bucak, was replaced under the same interior ministry decree.

In dawn raids in Istanbul and Ankara on 17 December, 52 people including three sons of cabinet ministers were arrested as part of a bribery investigation.

Mr Erdogan subsequently accused police chiefs of abuse of office and said he would not allow "political plotting".

Allies of Mr Gulen - who are especially influential in the police and judiciary - are believed to have turned against Mr Erdogan over his tough action against anti-government protesters in Istanbul last summer.

His plans to close a number of schools run by Mr Gulen's Hizmet movement are also thought to have antagonised them, though Hizmet denies this.

Before the feud, Hizmet helped Mr Erdogan to victory in three consecutive general elections.

Mr Erdogan has positioned himself as a potential candidate in this summer's presidential election but analysts say he now faces one of the biggest challenges of his career.

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Morsi absence halts Cairo trial

8 January 2014 Last updated at 05:28 ET

The trial of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi has been adjourned after officials said bad weather had stopped his helicopter from taking off.

Other defendants arrived at the police compound by helicopter but Mr Morsi was still said to be in Alexandria.

One of them shouted in court that the trial was unconstitutional.

Mr Morsi and 14 other Muslim Brotherhood figures are accused of inciting the killing of protesters outside a presidential palace in 2012.

He was removed by the army last July after demonstrations against his rule.

His supporters have since held regular protests calling for his reinstatement.

A helicopter carrying some of the defendants arrived at the National Police Academy complex in Cairo for the hearing early on Wednesday, correspondents said.

Continue reading the main story

• Incitement of supporters to commit violence and murder during break-up of December 2012 protest
• Conspiring with foreign organisations (Hamas and Hezbollah) to commit terrorist acts
• Murder of prison officers in prison jailbreak during 2011 uprising against President Mubarak

State media had initially said Mr Morsi was also there; however, state news agency Mena later said his arrival had been delayed by bad weather.

The court session began at about 11:15 (09:15 GMT) but was immediately adjourned until 1 February, a decision that the presiding judge put down to weather conditions, the BBC's Orla Guerin reports.

Outside the court the sun was shining and the forecast for Alexandria was little different.

The deputy leader of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Essam al-Erian, shouted from the cage in which the defendants were being held that he did not recognise the trial's legitimacy and they had been brought to court against their will in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Morsi would refuse to attend the trial as his position was the same, Mr Erian said.

Security outside the Cairo police compound was very heavy with three cordons in place.

Egyptian media said thousands of police were on alert and TV pictures showed some pro-Morsi protesters being arrested as they waved the four-finger salute adopted by supporters of the ousted president.

A Brotherhood-led protest march was due to take place to coincide with the latest hearing. Tear gas and live fire were used to disperse demonstrators in the Nasr City area of Cairo, witnesses told the BBC.

When Mr Morsi does return to court, he will be asked to appoint a lawyer, which he refused to do during his initial appearance.

He also faces several other charges ranging from fraud to colluding with foreign militants in a terrorist plot.

He faces another court hearing at the end of January, accused with some 130 others of murdering policemen during a mass breakout from a Cairo prison in January 2011 shortly before the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.

Human rights groups have dismissed some of the allegations against him as preposterous.

Egyptian officials insist Mr Morsi will be given a fair trial but lawyers trying to defend him say they have been denied access to him.

He first appeared in court in early November amid chaotic scenes.

Speaking from behind bars, he insisted he was still the president and was being held against his will.

He refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the court and would not wear a prison uniform.

Some Egyptian journalists responded with calls for his execution.

Although Mr Morsi won the presidency in a democratic election, he fell out with key institutions during his 13 months in power.

The interim government has since cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood, classifying it as a terrorist organisation and arresting thousands of members. At least one thousand people have been killed in clashes with security forces.

At least 11 people were killed in violence across Egypt last Friday.

Mr Morsi's supporters say he and other senior Brotherhood leaders are the victims of politically motivated prosecutions.

The same court is being used for the retrial of Mr Mubarak, whose life sentence for involvement in the deaths of protesters has been overturned by an appeal court.

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N America temperature records tumble

8 January 2014 Last updated at 05:39 ET

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BBC's Mark Mardell: "After a few minutes outside it's really painful to breathe"

Weather records have tumbled across North America, with freezing temperatures even in the southern US.

The most extreme arctic blasts, blamed on a weather pattern known as the polar vortex, were said to have affected nearly 190 million people.

In Kentucky, an escaped prisoner turned himself in to get out of the cold.

Some parts of the Midwest hit -26C (-14F), as low as the Antarctic coast in winter, and much colder than the inside of a domestic freezer.

Temperature records were shattered in states across the US, including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Michigan, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.

It was -17C (1F) in the small town of Hell, Michigan, prompting online jokes that the weather was so bad even hell had frozen over.

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Hell, Michigan, freezes over in US "polar vortex" weather system

Colder than Mars

But it was Embarrass, Minnesota, that experienced the lowest temperature in the nation on Tuesday: -37C (-35F).

That was colder than readings recently recorded on the Red Planet by the Mars Rover.

A video of a meteorologist tossing a pot of boiling water into the air in Wisconsin, to demonstrate how it immediately turns to snow, quickly went viral on the internet and was widely imitated.

Continue reading the main story

The extreme weather resulted in the usual travel chaos - nearly 2,700 US flights were cancelled on Tuesday.

More than 500 rail passengers on their way to Chicago were marooned overnight into Tuesday morning in northern Illinois on three Amtrak passenger trains after drifting snow and ice covered the tracks.

Southern discomfort

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What can you wear to help cope with extreme cold weather?

The big freeze was even testing the resolve of Canadians, no strangers to cold weather.

Temperatures in parts of Ontario fell to -30C (-22F), causing flights in and out of Pearson International Airport to be halted for several hours on Tuesday morning.

Roads in the cities of Toronto and Ottawa were coated in dangerous black ice.

Freezing temperatures were recorded even in usually mild southern states.

In northern Florida temperatures briefly dropped below freezing.

Atlanta, Georgia, was 25 degrees below average for this time of year.

"I didn't think the South got this cold," Marty Williams, a homeless man in the city, told the Associated Press news agency.

"That was the main reason for me to come down from up North, from the cold, to get away from all that stuff."

People in the Midwest are still digging out from two massive snow storms recently which dumped more than 2ft (61cm) of snow.

A reprieve is expected soon, however, with forecasters predicting temperatures above freezing for much of the US in the coming days.

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Schumacher going 'good skier speed'

8 January 2014 Last updated at 05:51 ET

Footage from Michael Schumacher's helmet camera shows him travelling at the speed of "a very good skier on fairly hard terrain" when he hit a rock and fell, investigators say.

Investigators probing the former F1 driver's ski accident said he was eight metres off-piste when he crashed.

They said the 45-year-old "did not really look at reducing his speed when he went off piste".

Mr Schumacher suffered a severe head injury in the 29 December accident.

He is currently in a medically induced coma at a clinic in Grenoble where doctors describe his condition as critical but stable.

Fans gathered outside the hospital on 3 January to mark the racing legend's 45th birthday.

Speaking at a news conference in the French city of Albertville, the investigating team said they had so far attended the scene of the accident in the resort of Meribel, spoken to witnesses and the medical team.

They had also examined the driver's helmet and skis and viewed footage filmed on a camera attached to his helmet.

Lead prosecutor Patrick Quincy said Mr Schumacher had deliberately chosen to go off piste, an area between a red and blue piste that was clearly signposted.

The off piste area was clearly signposted at the Meribel ski station, he said.

"[Mr Schumacher] is evidently an extremely good skier, but one of his skis hit a rock that was sticking out... it caused him to fall and he hit his head on the rock," the prosecutor said.

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Spanish princess summoned over fraud

7 January 2014 Last updated at 05:11 ET

A Spanish judge has summoned the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos to appear in court over accusations of fraud and money-laundering.

The Infanta Cristina, 48, has been linked to the business affairs of her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, who is being investigated for alleged embezzlement.

The princess is now a formal suspect and should appear in court on 8 March.

It is believed to be the first time a direct relative of the king will appear in court accused of wrongdoing.

Palma de Mallorca court judge Jose Castro ordered the princess to appear for questioning about her partnership with Mr Urdangarin in a firm called Aizoon.

Last year, properties belonging to her husband were impounded after allegations that Mr Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma, misused millions of euros in public funds given to a charitable foundation he ran.

The duke denied wrongdoing and was not charged with any crime.

One of the properties impounded is a large luxury house on the outskirts of Barcelona belonging to the duke and Princess Cristina.

The Infanta Cristina is the king's middle child. She has an elder sister, Infanta Elena, and a younger brother, Crown Prince Felipe, the heir apparent.

'Maximum respect'

Responding to Tuesday's announcement, the royal household said it had "maximum respect for judicial decisions".

News that the princess is now a formal suspect comes amid a decline in popularity for the Spanish king, 76, whose image was dented by a luxury elephant-hunting trip he made to Africa in 2012.

On Monday, he presided over a military parade on crutches at Madrid's royal palace, having recently undergone hip replacement surgery.

An opinion poll published on Sunday suggested that 62% of Spaniards wanted him to abdicate and fewer than half supported the monarchy in general.

However, the same Sigma Dos poll for El Mundo newspaper also indicated that a majority supported Crown Prince Felipe and believed he could restore the family's prestige.

Juan Carlos became king in 1975, when he oversaw the country's transition from dictatorship under the late Gen Francisco Franco to democracy.

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Hundreds of Turkish police dismissed

7 January 2014 Last updated at 05:28 ET

Turkey has removed 350 police officers from their posts in the capital Ankara, following a corruption probe targeting people close to the government.

Officials, mostly from outside the city, are to replace them.

Hundreds of police have been dismissed or reassigned across the country since last month's corruption investigation. Three cabinet ministers resigned after their sons were detained in the raids.

The prime minister has accused the police and judiciary of a "dirty plot".

The arrests were carried out as part of an inquiry into alleged bribery involving public tenders, which included controversial building projects in Istanbul.

Those detained in the 17 December raids included more than 50 public officials and businessmen - all allies of the prime minister.

The sons of two ex-ministers and the chief executive of the state-owned bank, Halkbank, are still in police custody.

'Political plotting'

The latest round of police dismissals and reassignments were carried out under a government decree published at midnight.

Those removed from their posts include chiefs of the financial crimes, anti-smuggling and organised crime units, the private Dogan News Agency reported.

Continue reading the main story

• Hizmet ("service") is the Turkish name of what is commonly known as the Gulen movement
• The movement is inspired by the teachings of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the US
• There is no formal structure but its followers are numbered in the millions

The move comes as the government is trying to contain the political fall-out from the corruption inquiry.

Many believe the arrests and dismissals reflect a feud within Turkey's ruling AK Party between those who back Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and supporters of Fethullah Gulen, an influential Islamic scholar living in self-imposed exile in the US.

Members of Mr Gulen's Hizmet movement are said to hold influential positions in institutions such as the police, the judiciary and the AK Party itself.

For years, Mr Gulen's loyalists (known as Gulenists) broadly lined up with Mr Erdogan, sharing his belief of a greater role for Islam in Turkey's secular state, says the BBC's James Reynolds in Istanbul.

The movement helped Mr Erdogan to win three general elections.

Crucially, an undeclared Gulenist network in the judiciary and the police helped the government to remove the military from politics, our correspondent says.

But, unhappy with the way Mr Erdogan dealt with the Gezi Park protesters, and angered by government plans to close a number of Hizmet-run schools, our correspondent says that many in Turkey believe that the Gulenist network has now gone after the prime minister's allies - a charge the movement itself denies.

Turkey's army has said it does not want to get involved in political arguments, in response to rumours of a coup plot.

'Organised opponent'

The scandal has prompted anti-government protests in Turkey's main cities in recent weeks but Mr Erdogan has pledged to fight on in what is seen as the biggest challenge to his government in his 11 years in office.

He has called the corruption investigation a "smear campaign" and urged his supporters to vote for his AK Party in upcoming local elections.

Turkey's lira has fallen to a new low against the dollar.

The European Union - which Turkey hopes to join - has urged Ankara to address the corruption allegations in an "impartial manner".

This summer, Turkey will vote for a new president.

Over the past year, Mr Erdogan has positioned himself as a potential candidate but analysts say he now faces an organised opponent within the system he has dominated for a decade.

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North America cold snap creeps east

7 January 2014 Last updated at 05:50 ET

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ABC News reporter Gio Benitez: 'It's now illegal to drive in Indianapolis'

North America's brutal cold snap is heading east, ushering in dangerous temperatures not seen in two decades, warn forecasters.

About half of the US population has been placed under a wind chill warning or cold weather advisory.

In Canada, the province of Ontario is facing temperatures of -40C (-40F) with wind chill.

Thousands of flights have been grounded, and residents told their skin could freeze if they go outside.

People on the US north-east coast were warned to prepare themselves for the cold front sweeping in on Tuesday from the Midwest.

Temperatures were set to plummet overnight in New York and Washington DC by as much as 45 degrees, from unseasonably clement highs a day earlier.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that parts of major highways would be closed in preparation for the extreme weather, which could see the mercury plummet to -26C (-15F) overnight with wind chill.

The polar blast was threatening crops and livestock across the American farm belt, even in the usually temperate Deep South.

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US forecasters are warning that the freezing weather is heading east

The sub-zero snap was expected to reach as far south as Texas and central Florida, the National Weather Service said.

Tennessee and Kentucky were forecast to receive several inches of snow.

The weather has been blamed for at least 16 deaths in recent days, including:

• A one-year-old boy in Missouri who was killed in a car collision with a snowplough
• A worker at a Philadelphia salt storage facility who died when a 100-ft (30-m) pile of road salt collapsed on him
• An elderly Indiana woman who was found dead outside her home
• An Oklahoma man who was killed when his vehicle skidded off an icy road
• An elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease who froze to death after getting lost in New York state
• Four men across Illinois who suffered fatal heart attacks while shovelling snow

Meteorologists said some 187 million people in all would be able to feel the effects of the cold snap by Tuesday.

It has been widely blamed on a shift in the weather pattern known as the "polar vortex".

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BBC Weather's Alex Deakin delves into the polar vortex

In Comertown, Montana, on Monday the temperature sank to -53C (-63F) with wind chill.

The state of Minnesota saw the mercury plummet to -48C (-56F) by the same measure.

The South Pole, and Irkutsk, Siberia, by comparison, jointly basked in a relatively balmy -33C.

More than 4,500 US flights were cancelled just on Monday in the US because of the extreme weather.

JetBlue Airways suspended nearly all operations at airports in Boston and around New York City until midday on Tuesday.

Continue reading the main story

• Antarctica: -89.2C (-128.5F) recorded on 21 Jul 1983 at Vostok
• N America: -63.0C (-81.4F) recorded on 3 Feb 1947 in Yukon Territory, Canada
• Europe: -58.1C (-72.6F) recorded on 31 Dec 1978 in Ust 'Schugor, Russia
• South America: -32.8C (-27F) recorded on 1 June 1907 in Sarmiento, Argentina
• Africa: -23.9C (-11F) recorded on 11 Feb 1935 in Ifrane, Morocco
• Australia: -23C (-9.4F) recorded on 29 Jun 1994 in Charlotte Pass, New South Wales

Source: World Meteorological Organization

The state of Minnesota and the city of Chicago, Illinois, have ordered all schools closed.

It was so cold that even the polar bear at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo was kept indoors, CNN reports.

Public parks were also shut as officials warned that exposed flesh could become frostbitten, while emergency shelters for homeless people across the country were reported to be operating at maximum capacity.

In Illinois, the National Guard used 10-tonne military vehicles to clear up after several lorries jackknifed, stranding nearly 400 vehicles. There were no fatalities or injuries reported in those incidents.

In Indianapolis, Indiana, it has temporarily been made illegal to drive except in an emergency or to seek shelter, in order to prevent accidents and keep the roads free for emergency vehicles.

North of the border, freezing rain also caused hundreds of flight cancellations at airports in Toronto and Ottawa.

Nearly 1,000 homes in Newfoundland, Canada, were still without electricity on Monday after a power outage.

Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips told the Globe and Mail newspaper: "The weather gods are out to punish you."

Some parts of Canada could see as much as 23in of snow over just a few days, he said.

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S Sudan reconciliation 'possible'

7 January 2014 Last updated at 06:08 ET

Rebels in South Sudan are confident that "full reconciliation" can be achieved with the government, their chief negotiator has said.

Taban Deng's comments came as the two sides hold ceasefire talks in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

Information Minister Michel Makuel said the government was committed to ending the conflict.

About 1,000 people have been killed since violence erupted in South Sudan on 15 December.

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The BBC outlines the background to South Sudan's crisis - in 60 seconds.

Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced in the fighting, which has seen clashes between the Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups.

President Salva Kiir is a Dinka and rebel leader Riek Machar is a Nuer.

Direct talks between the two sides began in Addis Ababa on Sunday, after days of wrangling over procedural issues and the agenda.

Continue reading the main story

We are from the same family"

End Quote Taban Deng Rebel negotiator

On Tuesday, chief mediators Seyoum Mesfin and Lazurus Sumbeiywo flew to South Sudan's capital, Juba, for talks with Mr Kiir, reports BBC Ethiopia correspondent Emmanuel Inguza.

A major sticking point is the demand by Mr Machar - Mr Kiir's former deputy in government - for the release of 11 people detained over an alleged coup plot.

Mr Kiir has repeatedly ruled out their release, saying they will face justice.

Mr Machar denies there was a coup plot, saying Mr Kiir's forces unleashed the violence as a way of consolidating his grip on power ahead of elections due in 2015.

Diplomatic pressure

Both Mr Kiir and Mr Machar belong to the governing Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which led the decades-long conflict against Sudan, leading to the South's independence in 2011.

"We are from the same family. We are all from the SPLM. They are leading the government. We are in the SPLM," said Mr Deng.

"We have disagreed and we believe that we can achieve a full reconciliation that will mean a meaningful peace to both parties and to our people in the Republic of South Sudan."

Mr Makuel expressed a similar view.

"We are committed to peace, and from here I hope that we will be in a position to stop this death, which is happening in our country," he said.

Both sides have been under intense diplomatic pressure to end the fighting in South Sudan, the world's newest state.

On Monday, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi met the warring parties in Addis Ababa, urging them to negotiate a ceasefire.

China is a major investor in South Sudan's oil industry.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir also held talks on Monday with Mr Kiir.

The two leaders were "in consultations about the deployment of a mixed force to protect the oilfields in the South", Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Karti said.

When it seceded from Sudan, the South ended up with most of the oilfields.

But it has to export the oil using pipelines through ports in Sudan's territory. The government in Khartoum now fears its oil revenue will be disrupted by the fighting in the South.

Also on Monday, the South Sudanese government announced it had agreed to a cessation of hostilities with a rebel leader it has been fighting for nearly two years, David Yau Yau.

It had been feared that Mr Yau Yau, who has troops in Jonglei state, would join the new rebellion.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued between Mr Kiir's and Mr Machar's forces near Bor, the capital of Jonglei state.

Army spokesman Philip Aguer said it was only a "matter of time" before Bor was recaptured from rebels.

In another development, the United Nations said militiamen had taken control of a UN food warehouse in Bentiu and that UN vehicles had been commandeered in the rebel-held town of Bor.

"This makes it very, very difficult for us to continue our work - the sole purpose of which is reaching civilians in need," said Toby Lanzer, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator in South Sudan.

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Fears for South Sudan children

30 December 2013 Last updated at 02:28 ET

Thousands of children are likely to have been separated from their families as a result of the latest violence in South Sudan, an aid agency has warned.

Save the Children says many children are surviving on their own in very remote areas.

Some have witnessed their parents being killed and their homes looted or destroyed.

The fighting broke out two weeks ago in the capital Juba, and has spread to many parts of the country.

At least 1,000 people have died.

Continue reading the main story

In about three days alone we have registered 60 children in one site in Juba who have been separated from their families"

End Quote Helen Mould Save the Children

The positions of the warring factions in South Sudan seem to be hardening ahead of a regional deadline for talks to begin.

South Sudan only became independent from Sudan in 2011, after decades of conflict.

'Hiding in swamps'

More than 121,000 people fled their homes when fighting started, with the result that many families were split up, Save the Children said.

The charity said while many people had sought refuge in UN compounds or host communities in safer areas, others, including children, were hiding in swampy areas with no shelter where they would be forced to drink stagnant water.

"In about three days alone we have registered 60 children in one site in Juba who have been separated from their families because of the conflict," Save the Children's Helen Mould told the BBC's Newsday programme.

"Until we get access to these areas where the fighting has been at its hardest, in Jonglei, in Upper Nile state… it's difficult to know what the exact circumstances are and it's difficult for us to respond," she said.

What began as a power struggle between rebel leader Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir has taken on overtones of an ethnic conflict. The Dinka, to which Mr Kiir belongs, are pitted against the Nuer, from which Mr Machar hails.

The government has offered a ceasefire, but the army says its forces are still battling rebels over oilfields in the north.

'No prisoner releases'

East African mediators have given both sides until Tuesday to agree an end to hostilities.

But as the deadline looms, positions seem to be hardening, the BBC's James Copnall reports from Juba.

It had seemed as if the government was prepared to release several detained politicians - Mr Machar's main condition for beginning talks, he says.

However, senior government figures now say this will not happen, citing Mr Machar's refusal to accept the cessation of hostilities.

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The BBC's James Copnall says aid workers fear a humanitarian crisis

Mr Machar says it is impossible to stop fighting before the talks, as verification mechanisms would need to be agreed on first.

Meanwhile, there are conflicting reports about a march by youths loyal to Mr Machar on the strategic town of Bor.

Claims that most of the fighters had gone home were later denied, and some of the youths are said to have clashed with government forces.

Mr Machar was vice-president until Mr Kiir sacked him in July.

Earlier this month fighting broke out between rival army factions after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of trying to unseat him in a coup.

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Gunfire rocks DR Congo capital

30 December 2013 Last updated at 05:31 ET

Gunfire has been heard at several locations in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, including the state TV and radio headquarters and the airport.

Youths armed with machetes and guns had taken reporters hostage, a police spokesman told the AFP news agency.

A customs official told Reuters that gunmen began shooting at the international airport shortly after the attack on RTNC's headquarters.

The information minister says the situation was now under control.

Lambert Mende told BBC Africa at about 11.00 local time (10:00 GMT) that several arrests had been made.

The cause of the attacks was not clear, he said.

Earlier, there were also reports of gunfire from a military base in the city.

Continue reading the main story

Gideon Mukungubila has come to free you from the slavery of the Rwandan"

End Quote Message delivered on state TV by gunnmen

A taxi driver told AFP he heard about "six or seven shots" from heavy weapons fired at the Tshatshi camp. The shots were heard between 09:00 and 09:30 local time.

The Ndjili airport customs official told the Reuters news agency: "Shooting has started here. They are shooting everywhere. We are all hiding."

Congolese security forces were reported to be at the scene at the state media headquarters.

Before the channels went off air, two gunmen appeared on camera to deliver what appeared to be a political message against President Joseph Kabila's government, Reuters reports.

"Gideon Mukungubila has come to free you from the slavery of the Rwandan," said the message, according to Reuters.

In 1997, Rwandan-backed troops ousted DR Congo's long-serving ruler Mobutu Sese Seko and installed Laurent Kabila - the father of incumbent leader Joseph Kabila - as president.

President Joseph Kabila won his second term in office two years ago.

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