So far, 1650 Ugandan troops return home

Uganda had by Sunday withdrawn 1,650 troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza told IRIN on Monday. The first group was flown out on Friday. "Only military equipment and those guarding them are still to come by air," he said. The remaining troops, he said, were walking back to Uganda from southeast of Bunia, a three-week journey that would take about three weeks for some. Military officials, including Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi, welcomed the troops who arrived at Entebbe Air Base on Friday. Referring to Kampala's assertion that Ugandan dissidents were active in eastern DRC he said: "The mission in Congo was to defeat terrorists wanting to destablise us. Uganda will not stand idly by while our people are being threatened from the Congo." The soldiers - with their light weapons and munitions - were flown from Bunia's tiny airport, the principal town in Ituri District, aboard four Antonov transport aircraft. Some of them had not seen their families in Uganda in five years. The soldiers were to have been flown out on Thursday but an aircraft with a punctured tyre made an emergency landing in Bunia, delaying the start of the operation by one day. Before leaving, the soldiers and a military band marched through Bunia's streets as part of a farewell ceremony during which the commander of Ugandan troops in the DRC, Brig. Kale Kayihura, spoke about his hopes for peace in Ituri. Representatives of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) and government officials were not present. Earlier in the day MONUC officials told reporters that arrangements had been made to keep order in Ituri. "We officially inaugurate the IPC [Ituri Pacification Committee] today," Vadim Periliev, head of MONUC for eastern DRC, said. "The various organs of the IPC on the ground are equipped to deal with the security situation in Ituri." He said that "all the elements of the society" of eastern Congo were involved in these organs and had been consulting with MONUC. Asked why the UN had, so far, only 200 troops in Ituri he said, "Numbers are less important than the quality of the response." He also denied the Ugandan army's claim that the UN had asked them to stay longer to give it more time to organise a peacekeeping force. "The position of MONUC is that we want immediate withdrawal," he said. "There was never a request to delay. There was only a concern that they pull out in an orderly fashion."