OWN CORRESPONDENT, Libreville | Sunday 10.00am.
THE Danish Minister for International Development, Paul Nielson, has warned African states with forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo that Copenhagen will cut off aid to them if a regional conflict ensues.
“Should the countries involved get into a face-to-face confrontation my country will have no option but to withdraw all aid to the countries involved,” Nielson told high-level representatives of nine African states with whom Copenhagen has “development co-operation”.
Nielson said Denmark is “troubled” by the failure of diplomacy by the Southern African Development Community and the Organisation of African Unity to prevent fighting in President Laurent Kabila’s Democratic Republic of Congo and in Lesotho. “I find it disappointing that African countries do not genuinely support the efforts of regional organisations such as SADC and the OAU,” he said.Nielson said business leaders are now afraid of nvesting in Africa because of perceived political instability and are moving to other parts of the world.
Meanwhile, Southern African troops backing Kabila have set their sights on rebel-held areas in the east of the country, Zimbabwe’s state-controlled news agency Ziana reported Sunday. In a dispatch with a Kinshasa dateline, the agency attributed the report to Major-General Mike Nyambuya, commander of the Zimbabwean forces in DRC.
“For as long as the east is still occupied by the invasion forces our mission is not complete,” Ziana quoted Nyambuya as saying.