MORE than 200 Zimbabwean soldiers who fled into Zambia after a rebel offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been repatriated, state media reported this week. Zambian General Timothy Kazembe, head of a Joint Military Commission set up to oversee a ceasefire in the DRC, said the Zimbabwean troops, who back the DRC regime, were sent to Harare. Meanwhile, about 3 700 DRC soldiers who also fled into Zambia were under guard in the northern rural town of Kaputa, across the border from the Pweto region of southeastern DRC, where the clashes were taking place, Kazemba said. The senior officer – whose country plays a neutral, mediating role – said that only 97 DRC soldiers loyal to President Laurent Kabila renounced their military status. They were immediately given refugee status. Kazembe was in Zambia’s Northern Province, which has seen a major influx of refugees from clashes between DRC troops, their allies and Rwandan-backed rebels, in breach of the ceasefire signed by all parties to the conflict in August 1999. – AFP
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