The DRC intervention in official figures

The Zimbabwean government has deployed about 10,000 troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at a cost of some US $3 million a month, government sources told IRIN. A senior government official told IRIN on Wednesday that the Zimbabwean defence force was also holding an estimated 300 prisoners of war (POWs) at various base camps in DRC. A further 49 Rwandese POWs had been transferred to Zimbabwe where they were being held in military detention. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said 36 Zimbabwean POWs were being held in Rwanda: “It is comforting to know that they are being visited by delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and it is hoped that they can be exchanged for those held in Zimbabwe,” he said. Asked about the 300 held in DRC, the official, who said he had recently visited Zimbabwe’s Congo bases, said: “Believe me, if you put the question to them, they far prefer being in our custody, rather than in Congolese custody given the intense ethnic hatreds.” Amid a growing clamour by international donor organisations, the local opposition media and activists at home over the political, humanitarian and budgetary cost of the intervention, he said the cost was diminishing now that a ceasefire has been signed. The official did not say how long it would be before the Southern African “allied intervention” by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola would end. Since it started late last year, he added, 39 Zimbabwean soldiers had lost their lives. Western diplomats told IRIN that major aid to Zimbabwe was on hold because they were not satisfied at how much the operation was costing. “This figure is very difficult to verify independently,” a diplomat said. But the government official, who said he hoped donor nations would see the costs diminishing as the ceasefire took hold, said: “The leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have no doubt in their minds that DRC is an economic partner in this region - not a playing field.”