OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kinshasa | Monday 8.00pm.
DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila said on Monday that fighting in the east of the country is “developing” in favour of government forces and that the war could be over in “several months”.
He told state television: “At the front it is going well, it is developing well.” Kabila had just returned from the south-eastern city of Lubumbashi, his homw town, where he inspected new troops being incorporated into the government’s armed forces (FAC).
The new units will join the army and its foreign allies from Zimbabwe, Angola, Chad and Namibia shortly in the east of the country, where they are fighting Tutsi-led rebels backed by Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian troops.
Kabila said: “Morale is very high, very, very high,” in the FAC ranks. He added: “In several months, I think the country will be free.”
Kabila was inspecting troops passing through the country’s accelerated military training programme, launched when the rebellion broke out last August. He also reviewed the country’s first mechanised brigade, which was partly trained by officers from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia. — AFP