Harare to withdraw 5,000 troops

Zimbabwe plans to pull out 5,000 troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the “immediate future” - halving its military presence in the mineral-rich country - in a move a defence spokesman on Thursday described as a vote of confidence in the peace process. Colonel Mbonisi Gatsheni stressed that the exercise, which began on Tuesday with the departure of 200 soldiers from the western DRC town of Mbandaka, was a “force reduction” and not a “complete withdrawal”. But, he added, “ultimately we want to reduce by 5,000 men in the immediate future.” Zimbabwe has had troops in the DRC since 1998, supporting the Kinshasa government against Rwandan and Ugandan-backed rebels. Gatsheni said the pull back had been “on the cards for a long time” but was interrupted at the end of last year with the fall of the government-held town of Pweto in the south, ceasefire violations in the northwest, and the death of former president Laurent-Desire Kabila. “Now we have a lull,” he said, “and these days most people who are positive minded are hopeful that peace will be retained in the DRC.” But he added that a full withdrawal of Zimbabwean soldiers would rest on a “political decision”. Meanwhile, defence and foreign ministers of countries allied to the DRC government met in Harare on Wednesday ahead of a Joint Military Commission (JMC) meeting on Friday in Zambia. News reports said the disengagement process was high on the agenda of the officials from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola. The JMC Lusaka talks are expected to review progress of the first phase of disengagement, in which rival forces were by last week due to have pulled back 15 km from frontline positions. The disengagement is being monitored by UN observers.