A Zimbabwe defence spokesman has said reports of 500 Zimbabwean soldiers fleeing the town of Manono in Katanga province, when it was captured by the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) recently, are untrue. He claimed only 94 Zimbabweans were present at Manono, the home town of President Laurent-Desire Kabila, and they were evacuated by air after some 3,000 rebels took the town. Defence analysts told IRIN on Friday Zimbabwe’s strategy in the DRC is one of “minimum risk”, using force only when necessary and concentrating more on training local Congolese forces. According to the analysts, the rebels had not yet been able to counter Zimbabwe’s advantages of armour on the ground and airpower, by overruning airfields and using shoulder-fired missiles.
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