Zambia disarms 3,000 fugitive troops

Zambian troops have disarmed more than 3,000 foreign soldiers who fled into Zambian territory from fierce fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) earlier this month, Zambian defence officials were quoted as saying on Tuesday. “Our men are right at the border and as of now we have disarmed more than 3,000 of these soldiers who fled into Zambia from Congo,” Defence Minister Chitalu Sampa said. “We are treating this matter very seriously because armed soldiers also pose a security risk here in Zambia.”

Sampa said defeated soldiers who fled Congo would be disarmed in the presence of United Nations monitors. “We are disarming the soldiers all right but it is not easy to establish whether they are guilty of genocide,” he said. While most of the foreign troops who crossed into Zambia are Congolese government forces, an unknown number of Zimbabwean and Rwandan Hutu militia also crossed. Zimbabwean troops had been defending the Congolese border town of Pweto that fell to Rwandan-backed RCD rebels.

Kelvin Chiposwa, secretary general of the Zambian Red Cross, said on Monday the fleeing troops had told aid workers that more fellow-combatants were heading for Zambia. “The situation is likely to get worse. More soldiers are expected to come. We are reliably informed that they are also heavily armed,” Chiposwa said.