OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 10.00PM
ZIMBABWEAN troops have flown into Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo state television reported on Thursday.
The station, which showed pictures of rifle-bearing troops descending from an aircraft at Kinshasa’s N’djili airport, did not say how many troops had arrived or whether troops from other Southern African Development Community countries were expected.
Zimbabwe’s action backs Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s declaration that SADC countries will intervene militarily in the DRC conflict to prop up President Laurent Kabila. Both Zimbabwe and Namibia have already supplied arms and material to Kabila’s forces.
The move also pre-empts South African President Nelson Mandela, who is the chairman of the SADC, in calling a negotiated solution to the conflict. Mandela has said he will call a full summit to discuss the situation. He held talks in Cape Town with Namibia’s President Sam Nujoma on Thursday and said also that he had urged Ugandan President Yoweri Meuseveni to call for a ceasefire in the DRC.
In a special statement in the National Assembly on Thursday, Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo said South Africa is hoping to broker a ceasefire in the DRC so that a democratic solution can be reached by the Congolese people themselves.
The rebels fighting in the DRC have meanwhile said they will be in Kinshasa in four days.
They claim to have taken the strategic town of Banza Ngungu. A rebel leader, Sylvian Buki said the rebels are “no more than 120km from Kinshasa” after seizing control of the town.
Kabila’s government still claims to be in control of the town.
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