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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.