/ 18 February 2008

DRC releases Zambian fishermen

The Zambian government announced on Monday that 30 fishermen arrested by authorities from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on cross-border Lake Mweru had been released, but fishermen nabbed in earlier raids were reportedly still being held.

Defence Minister George Mpombo said all 30 fishermen, who were rounded up at gunpoint on the lake in early February on suspicion of illegally crossing the border and taken into detention in the DRC, had been reunited with their families.

Security patrols had intensified along the border to ensure that neither Zambians nor Congolese inadvertently entered the other’s territory, Mpombo said.

However, reports from Nchelenge district on Lake Mweru quoted the relatives of other fishermen seized in earlier arrest raids in December as saying a number of the detainees had not returned home yet.

Wilson Kasoloko, police District Commissioner, said about 13 fishermen were rounded up in December on the lake in at least two raids.

The families accuse DRC officials of demanding large payments for the men’s release. — Sapa-dpa