The Congolese army took control Thursday of Kisangani, the last rebel stronghold. Immediately after rebel mercenaries fled the big city of the eastern Congo, two International Red Cross planes flew in and picked up about 100 persons who had been stranded there. It was a desolate scene at the airport here when the refugees arrived. One plane carried about 50 Congolese wounded, the great majority of them Congolese army soldiers. In the other plane there were about 50 Europeans and Americans, most of them women and children, who had lived in Kisangani, formerly Stanleyville. The whites were tired, but not injured. One American woman told newsmen that the mercenaries were gentlemen. She said she did not know of a single white person who was held hostage by the mercenaries during the last week. But she added that perhaps the mercenaries had taken two or three hostages with them when they left Kisangani Wednesday night...
The Congolese army took control Thursday of Kisangani, the last rebel stronghold. Immediately after rebel mercenaries fled the big city of the eastern Congo, two International Red Cross planes flew in and picked up about 100 persons who had been stranded there. It was a desolate scene at the airport here when the refugees arrived. One plane carried about 50 Congolese wounded, the great majority of them Congolese army soldiers. In the other plane there were about 50 Europeans and Americans, most of them women and children, who had lived in Kisangani, formerly Stanleyville. The whites were tired, but not injured. One American woman told newsmen that the mercenaries were gentlemen. She said she did not know of a single white person who was held hostage by the mercenaries during the last week. But she added that perhaps the mercenaries had taken two or three hostages with them when they left Kisangani Wednesday night...
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