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A group of 62 government soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who crossed their country's southern border into Zambia last week have been granted safe passage home by the
Zambian authorities.
A senior military official in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, told IRIN on Thursday that the soldiers, all of whom had been disarmed, had not sought asylum in Zambia.
"They crossed over, relinquished in their weapons, and have asked to go home. We are granting them safe passage to the border at Kaputa, and we have informed their government accordingly," the official said.
UNHCR was not involved in the issue because the soldiers were willing to return home. But a UNHCR spokesman, Dominik Bartsch, said more than 500 civilian refugees had crossed over from DRC since the beginning of April.
The military official said since the start of the DRC conflict, up to 2,000 DRC soldiers had crossed into Zambia, all of whom had been disarmed.
"We are striving to be vigilant along our borders with DRC and Angola, where we are keeping the situation under control," the official said. He offered no explanation as to why the latest group had crossed the border and then sought to go home.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
