OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 8.30pm.
ZIMBABWE has said it will maintain its force in the Democratic Republic of Congo until there is “irreversible” peace there.
Addressing Parliament the Zimbabwean defence minister, Moven Mahachi, faced a mass of criticism from MPs dissatisfied with Zimbabwe’s military intervention in the DRC. According to local reports, MPs said the military involvement came at a time when the nation was facing an economic crisis. They wanted to know why the government had not consulted parliament before deciding to deploy troops to support DRC President Laurent Kabila.
Government backbenchers wanted to know the cost of maintaining soldiers in the DRC, for how long they were going to be deployed there, who was going to pay for it, the effect on the already depressed economy, the number of Zimbabwean casualties and compensation for those killed or injured.
Mahachi said the decision to send troops to the DRC was “a question of principle” and in compliance with resolutions Zimbabwe had taken along with other countries in the Organisation of African Unity and the Southern African Development Community.
As for informing parliament, he said that when the situation became critical in the DRC, the Zimbabwe legislature was not in session. By making his statement on the second day of parliament after its recess, he said, he had taken the earliest opportunity to brief the nation’s leaders on Zimbabwe’s involvement in the DRC.
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