Lusaka asks Harare to repatriate soldiers

Zambia has asked Zimbabwe to take home a battalion of its soldiers who fled into Zambia to escape fighting in the DRC, the BBC reported. The soldiers were among a group of 1,000 troops loyal to the Kinshasa government who crossed into Zambia on Tuesday after rebels captured the town of Pweto near the Zambian border. Zambia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Keli Walubita, said he had contacted the Zimbabwe High Commissioner in Lusaka about the troops, and had “requested their repatriation back to Harare”, the BBC reported. Zimbabwe’s High Commission told IRIN on Monday its ambassador was in Harare for talks.

In a related development, Rwanda has asked Zambia to disarm “thousands” Rwandan Hutu rebels fighting alongside the Kinshasa government who fled into Zambia with the fall of Pweto. Reuters quoted Rwandan army chief of staff Major-General Kayumba Nysamwasa as saying that between 6,000 and 8,000 troops supporting President Laurent-Desire Kabila had crossed to northeastern Zambia. “They include a battalion of Zimbabwean soldiers, some former Rwanda government soldiers, Interahamwe Hutu militia, and Burundian Hutu rebels,” he alleged. “Zambia has promised to disarm them, but we have yet to see proof that this has been done.” He called on the United Nations to organise monitors to oversee the disarming of the soldiers. Nysamwasa said Rwandan Hutus, who fled from Rwanda after being linked to the 1994 genocide, made up the bulk of Kabila’s fighting force in Pweto.