Much going on in the world this March 25th, 1997.
The big news was coming from Africa where Zaire’s Parliament voted to unseat the country’s unpopular Prime Minister, Mr Leon Kengo wa Dondo, just hours after he left the capital to attend a regional meeting on the nation’s civil war. The action by Parliament on Tuesday deepened a growing power vacuum in Zaire and further crippled a State under siege.
Mr Kengo’s dismissal came four days after rebels of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo seized Zaire’s third-largest city, Kisangani, with hardly a battle from Government forces who looted the north-eastern provincial capital before fleeing. It also comes amid unconfirmed reports that members of Mr Mobutu’s family have begun to take shelter in Brazzaville, the capital of Congo, across the Congo River from Kinshasa. Last week, Mr Kengo pledged publicly that Kisangani, which had been the centre of his Government’s campaign to recapture a huge swath of territory in eastern Zaire lost to the rebels, would never fall. There was no immediate comment from Mr Kengo after his arrival in Nairobi, Kenya, for a meeting with regional leaders on. As Mr Kabila’s troops consolidated their hold on Kisangani on Tuesday, there were reports from Mbuji-Mayi, a central city that is the home of Zaire’s rich diamond industry, of looting by Government soldiers. After the loss of Kisangani, the Government had begun moving fresh troops and weapons to Mbujisaying Mayi as a new base of operations. But if the army’s past behavior is any indication, rioting Government troops in that city – a declared rebel target – can be expected to flee when there is nothing left to steal.
Meanwhile, Vice. President Al Gore arrived in China today for the highest-level U.S. visit in eight years, convinced progress in prickly disputes over human rights, trade and other issues will come faster if the United States limits its public criticism of the Beijing regime.
“The landscape of U.S.-China relations is filled with many rivers, some flowing together, others flowing apart,” Gore said in a statement as the arrived Monday evening in Beijing. “Such variety befits the interaction of two great nations and civilizations. In two days of meetings with President Jiang Zemin and Premier Li Peng, Gore said his paramount goal was to build a greater level of trust and rapport between the two nations so that disagreements over one or two issues do not foreclose progress on others.
And The English Patient thrived, but Fargo, Shine and Jerry Maguire survived. The World War II romance drama, based on the prize- winning novel of the same name by Toronto author Michael Ondaatje, took nine Oscars last night to sweep the 69th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The English Patient won three-quarters of its leading 12 nominations, winning for best picture, supporting actress (Juliette Binoche), director (Anthony Minghella), cinematography, art direction, costume design, editing, sound and best original dramatic score.
And that’s just a little of what went on in the world, this March 25, 1997 as presented by Newsdesk from The BBC World Service.
