OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday 11.00PM.
ZIMBABWEAN soldiers have started to return home from the Democratic Republic of Congo — in body bags.
The state-controlled media on Thursday reported that two Zimbabwean soldiers had been killed, three were missing and 15 injured following a rebel attack on Kinshasa, the DRC capital city, this week.
However reports from the DRC on the number of Zimbabweans killed are still unclear. While the Zimbabwean media reported that just two soldiers had been killed, other unconfirmed media sources say between 25 and 50 have died.
The injured soldiers have been taken to an army hospital in Harare which has since been sealed off.
There is a growing resentment in Zimbabwe not only over the deaths, but over President Robert Mugabe’s having committed Zimbabwean troops to the conflict in the first place.
According to the local weekly The Financial Gazette on Thursday, retired army chief General Solomon Mujuru openly challenged Mugabe about the wisdom of sending Zimbabwean soldiers to the DRC during a recent politburo meeting of the ruling party.
Other party members also are unhappy about the move. Mavis Chidzonga, a ruling party member of parliament said: “In Zimbabwe, people are suffering, dying from hunger, there are no roads, no clean water, but we can afford to fund a war in Congo. Where is the money coming from?”
Zimbabwe says it has some 600 soldiers in the DRC, but diplomatic sources claim the figure is about 800. Another elite group of troops is scheduled to leave for Kinshasa shortly.
According to local economists, Zimbabwe has already spent between Z$50-100 million (R6-R15-million) in the DRC, and the figure is likely to rise if, as the DRC Minister of Information predicts, the war is “long and popular”.