SADC commander dismisses accusations of looting

The Commander of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Major-General Edzai Chimonyo, has dismissed reports that top SADC military officials stationed in the DRC are looting its resources, particularly diamonds. In an interview on Wednesday with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation in the eastern diamond-mining town of Mbuji-Mayi, Major-General Chimonyo said that the reports were false and meant to demoralise and tarnish the image of the SADC coalition forces in the DRC. Chimonyo noted that members of the press in Zimbabwe were free to travel to the SADC-controlled eastern front of the DRC to verify this. He said that when such allegations arise, a parliamentary team can be facilitated to undertake a verification tour to investigate. Chimonyo also noted that should cases of misconduct by SADC forces surface, an SADC task force has the capacity to investigate, put to trial and punish anyone found guilty.