More Congolese refugees and troops cross into Zambia

A UNHCR spokesman in the Zambian capital Lusaka told IRIN on Tuesday that about 10,000 Congolese civilians and 500 government troops had crossed into Zambia since Sunday from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “We can just about cope, but we desperately need more medicine, clothes and food for these people and the thousands more expected,” Kelvin Shimo told IRIN. The refugees have arrived in the Zambian border town of Chiengi, they were escaping fighting in and around the DRC border town of Pweto, Shaba Province. But Shimo added that between 50,000 and 100,000 civilians from Pweto were scattered in villages along the border. “These people will need help if they present themselves to us in Chiengi,” Shimo said. A Zambian government refugee officer in Chiengi, Malindi Kaima, told IRIN on Tuesday that Pweto had been besieged by rebel forces and that there had been heavy fighting in the area over the past week. “Our information is that Pweto is now almost deserted, refugees tell me that there had been heavy shelling of the town at the weekend”. According to Kaima, rebels control the area around the town and are battling with Zimbabwean troops for control of Pweto itself. Kaima said that along with this new influx of refugees were nearly 500 DRC soldiers who also fled the fighting at Pweto. He told IRIN that he met some of the soldiers when they arrived in Chiengi. “These soldiers were tired and starving when they reached Zambia, they were disarmed and they’ll join the 540 DRC soldiers in Kaputa awaiting repatriation,” Kaima told IRIN. The 540 soldiers in the Zambian border town of Kaputa fled fighting around Kalemie, about 200 km north of Pweto, last month. According to UNHCR, some of the soldiers renounced their military status and became refugees, but most wanted the Zambian authorities to repatriate them to government-held areas of southern DRC. Contrary to news reports, these soldiers were not on hunger strike, and negotiations to have the group repatriated were underway, Kaima said. ‘The Times of Zambia’ on Tuesday quoted Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa as saying that immigration staff had been sent to the area to deal with the new influx and that the police and army had been put on standby to ensure security. Congolese rebels have been battling to overthrow DRC President Laurent Desire Kabila since 1998. With backing from Uganda and Rwanda, they now control most of eastern and parts of northwestern DRC. The recent fighting in Kalemie and Pweto is reportedly part of a rebel push towards the strategic southern city of Lubumbashi. The city is Kabila’s headquarters and the country’s second largest.