Kigali - More than 380 soldiers from the Kivu region of eastern Congo have been executed by security forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo after the murder of Laurent Kabila, rebel sources in Goma charge.
The news comes amid preparations for Kabila's state funeral in Kinshasa on Tuesday and is one of a series of reports alleging widespread arrests, persecution and execution of eastern Congo elements.
"They (soldiers) were arrested soon after Kabila's death, and were taken to different military barracks of the capital where they were executed," said Lora Kisanga, of the Rwanda-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD).
According to Kisanga, those executed include 10 army officers.
He said dozens of other Congolese nationals from the east of the country had fled to Congo-Brazzaville, across the Congo River.
"We are calling upon the international community to put pressure on the clique in Kinshasa to halt these summary executions," he said.
According to RCD officials, all military and civilians from the eastern Congo who were present at Kabila's Marble Palace at the time of the assassination were rounded up and are being interrogated.
A reliable source from Bukavu said persecution and summary execution of nationals from eastern Congo had also reached the DRC's second largest city, Lubumbashi.
"University students in Lubumbashi have been arrested and executed, others have fled to Zambia," the source said.
The bodyguard who killed Kabila last week, Kasereka Rashidi, was said to be from Bukavu.
A Kinshasa newspaper claimed on Monday that the murder had pre-empted a purge of senior army officers.
And analysts speculated that people protecting the interests of Angola, a key ally of the Kabila regime, might have been behind the attack, claiming that Kabila had begun to "forget why Angola was in the war" - which was to put a clamp on Unita's rebel activities.
The weekly paper the East African, citing sources close to the Kinshasa government, claimed Kabila had been "fine-tuning a major purge of top army officers", which was to have been announced on the fatal Tuesday.
This planned reshuffle was apparently prompted by recent heavy defeats suffered by the DRC army and its allies in Katanga province at the hands of Rwandan-backed rebels.
At Tuesday's funeral, Kabila's 31-year-old son Joseph - the country's interim leader - was due to head the mourners before being sworn in as the new president.
No date has been set for Major-General Kabila's induction, although judges and magistrates were told on Monday to prepare for an unspecified ceremony on Wednesday that many believe could mark his official takeover.
Thousands of people filed past Kabila's coffin as it lay in state on Monday.
"The entire Congolese people is affected by the death of our president," said civil servant Eugene Makulu, one of those at the People's Palace where the funeral mass will be held.
The presidents of close allies Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, and Louis Michels, Foreign Minister of former colonial power Belgium, are expected to attend the ceremony. - Foreign Service, Sapa-DPA and Reuters