Kinshasa troops in Zambia pose “war” threat - Chiluba

Several thousand DRC government soldiers who had taken refuge in northern Zambia to escape the fighting in southeastern DRC were refusing orders to disarm by Zambian authorities, while the Zambian military were having difficulty in identifying them, as they had mingled with local villagers, the BBC reported on Tuesday. It was their intention to reassemble in Zambia to mount a counter-attack on the RCD rebels and their Rwandan allies, according to the report.

Earlier, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba ordered troops to move to the border with the DRC “to ensure that thousands of armed soldiers fleeing the fighting there are prevented from threatening the neighbouring country,” Monday’s ‘The Times of Zambia’ newspaper said on Monday. “These refugees can easily bring war into Zambia if given so much freedom,” the newspaper quoted Chiluba as saying during a visit to Zambia’s Northern Province on Sunday. “I know we have an obligation to look after our brothers and sisters, but we must be alert at all times,” he warned, according to the newspaper.

On Tuesday ‘The Times of Zambia’ reported that the 300 Zimbabwean soldiers who had fled into Zambia had been repatriated. Of the 3,700 DRC soldiers who had fled into Zambia, 97 had “renounced their military status and have been absorbed as refugees”, the newspaper said.