Nearly 3 000 Rwandan soldiers remain unaccounted for after the country’s final withdrawal of troops from war-ravaged Congo this weekend, prompting accusations on Tuesday from a Congolese official that Rwandan fighters were ”preparing to provoke troubles.”
On Saturday, Rwanda said the last of its troops involved in Congo’s devastating four-year war crossed from the central African nation back into neighboring Rwanda. According to a UN count, Rwanda repatriated 20 941 soldiers, said Mountaga Diallo, the commander of UN forces in Congo. Rwanda had earlier said it had 23 760 troops fighting in Congo.
There was no immediate indication where the soldiers may be. Diallo said Rwandan authorities indicated the missing soldiers were leave-takers and trainees, among others. But Congolese Defence Minister Irung Wan accused the Rwandans of deliberately hiding. ”The Rwandan military are hiding in civilian clothing and concealing their weapons,” he told the Associated Press. ”They are preparing to provoke trouble to make it seem that the Rwandan presence was justified to prevent a flare-up of the region.”
Congo’s war broke out in August 1998, when Rwanda and Uganda sent thousands of troops to back Congolese rebels seeking to oust then-President Laurent Kabila. They accused him of supporting rebels threatening regional security. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia sent troops to back the Kabila government. The resource-rich country was divided into government and rebel-held zones.
Aid groups say more than 2,5-million people have died, most through hunger and disease aggravated by the conflict. Now as a series of peace accords take effect, government and rebel troops are standing down and foreign forces are returning home.
Rwanda’s withdrawal was agreed to under a July 30 peace deal signed by the presidents of Rwanda and Congo. Rwanda agreed to the withdrawal in exchange for a pledge by Congolese President Joseph Kabila — who assumed power when his father was assassinated — to disarm and repatriate Rwandans who fled to Congo after carrying out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Rwanda — which had the largest number of troops of any of the foreign nations involved in the war — began its withdrawal on September 17.
Namibia has said it has withdrawn its troops from Congo, Angola is believed to have only a small number still inside Congo and Zimbabwe is expected to announce its final withdrawal in a ceremony on October 11. – Sapa-AP