ZIMBABWE admitted on Thursday that the village of Manono in the Democratic Republic of Congo has fallen to rebel forces, but said Southern African Development Community troops made a “tactical withdrawal”. Army spokesman Chancellor Diye said in a statement that just 94 men had held out at Manono, the birthplace of DRC President Laurent Kabila, against several attacks by more than 3000 Rwandan troops before pulling back. He said the decision was made to withdraw because of difficulties in getting supplies to the southern African troops and the build-up of Rwandan forces. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia have thousands of troops in the DRC in support of Kabila, while Rwanda and Uganda back rebels trying to topple him.