Troops return home

Most of the troops Chad sent last year to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to back the government of President Laurent Kabila have returned home, Chadian Communication Minister Moussa Dago told IRIN on Monday. "The bulk of the contingent arrived in Sahr (south-western Chad) since yesterday," Dago said, adding that the rest had left Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), on Sunday night and were expected to arrive in Chad between Monday night and Tuesday. Dago said the number of troops was about 2,000. The withdrawal, which began on 26 May, followed an April peace accord in Sirte, Libya, between Kabila and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni that provided for the replacing of troops from nations involved in the conflict with a neutral peacekeeping force. Uganda and Rwanda have been backing rebels fighting Kabila's forces, which are supported by Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The pullout of Chadian troops - who, according to news organisations, had been deployed in northern DRC since September 1998 - was accompanied last week by a call in Chad's parliament for information from the government on the cost of the operation in lives and material. However, the country's prime minister explained that this information could not be given in the absence of the president, who was then on a trip to the United States and Nigeria, a media source told IRIN from the Chadian capital. Dago, too, declined to give IRIN any details of Chadian losses in the eight-month operation, but he refuted reports that casualties had been heavy. "Evidently, our losses are totally minimal," he told IRIN. "They are far from the figures given by the media, which reported 200 dead and 400 wounded." He also denied reports that Chadian soldiers had committed robberies and other offences in Bangui. "Our troops only transited through the Central African Republic," he told IRIN. "They spent only half a day in a camp outside Bangui." Moreover, he said, the troops' movement was monitored by the CAR authorities, international organisations and Chad's embassy in Bangui "so they couldn't commit any abuses".