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http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990209_feat1.html
Acute Fuel Crisis In Kinshasa
February 9, 1999
Kinshasa, Congo (PANA) - An acute shortage of fuel has prevailed over the past week in Kinshasa where long queues of vehicles can be seen at petrol stations.
Petroleum sources contacted by PANA Tuesday said the fuel scarcity was caused by lack of foreign exchange to pay for the needed supplies.
The sources said fuel distributors were not making enough profits from their fuel sales to obtain foreign exchange to enable them to buy the required stocks.
The sources added that the government agreed last November to subsidise the fuel prices by asking the fuel dealers to sell at low prices.
The civil war, unfortunately, has made it difficult for the government to honour the agreement, the sources said.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) president Laurent Kabila, while on a tour of military garrisons in Kinshasa Sunday, was surprised to see long queues at a fuel station.
"The country receives regular supplies of petroleum products. There is no reason why we should face a shortage," the president told a group of drivers at the station.
Meanwhile, the government and the fuel suppliers are holding discussions on how to solve the fuel crisis, officials said
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