North Koreans reportedly training troops

North Korean military training officers have helped the DRC government to set up a new special force unit, according to a DRC state television report, cited by AFP. However an official at the DRC embassy in Nairobi played down the report. "The report of North Koreans working with the Congolese national army have been exaggerated by the media," he told IRIN.

A regional military analyst said the new army unit trained by the North Koreans is in line with a programme of recruitment and retraining launched by President Laurent-Desire Kabila at the start of the insurgency. "Other special units trained by Kabila's allies from Angola and Zimbabwe are already in action against the rebels and their allies," the analyst told
IRIN.