IRIN Chronology of border influx

The following is a chronology of the influx of refugees and armed soldiers into Zambia from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), fleeing the intensification of fighting in southeastern DRC in November. 12 November: UNHCR reports that more than 250 DRC government troops flee into northern Zambia’s Kaputa district after RCD-Goma rebels launch an offensive around the town of Pepa in southeastern DRC. UNHCR says the Zambian government is to detain the soldiers until they renounce their military status and seek asylum. They are held separately from civilian refugees outside a warehouse in the border town of Kaputa. Concern is expressed that the hungry soldiers could begin looting local communities in an area where food is scarce. 16 November: More than 3,000 refugees arrive in Kaputa. UNHCR reports that the number of foreign soldiers in Zambia is now 540, and unconfirmed reports say some of them are trying to reach the southern DRC town of Lubumbashi via Zambia. 20 November: RCD-Goma calls on Zambia to disarm the troops from the DRC. The rebels allege that among the soldiers are Rwandan Interahamwe militia and Burundi Hutu rebels allied to the Kinshasa government. Defence Minister Chitalu Sampa says that Zambia will not allow foreign troops to enter the country with weapons. 21 November: UNHCR warns that up to 10,000 refugees and fleeing combatants are poised to cross into Zambia fleeing the Pepa fighting. According to a UNHCR official, 150 refugees are crossing daily. Some 2,000 are transferred south to the Kala refugee camp. 23 November: UNHCR prepares a contingency plan for the arrival of 50,000 refugees in northern Zambia. It says that if the government-held southeastern town of Pweto falls, numbers could reach 100,000. News reports say that some of the fugitive troops entering from the DRC are refusing to disarm to the Zambian authorities. Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa is quoted as saying the situation is “tricky”. 27 November: DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila reportedly disowns the soldiers in Zambia. A Kaputa district official is quoted as saying that Kabila’s refusal to accept the troops makes their repatriation difficult. He says government food supplies have reached the detained soldiers, many of them child combatants, but relief supplies were awaited for the local population. 1 December: According to news reports, only 34 out of the 540 soldiers in Kaputa have renounced their military status and approach UNHCR for asylum. The rest are demanding repatriation. 5 December: UNHCR reports that 10,000 civilians and “well over” 600 troops from the DRC cross into Zambia at Chiengi following the fall of Pweto to the rebels. Zambian security forces are put on alert. 6 December: UNHCR says there are unconfirmed reports that a DRC brigade of up to 3,000 soldiers has arrived in Zambia and is still in the bush. 7 December: Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa says the wave of refugees and soldiers entering Zambia is a security risk, but assures Zambians living in the border region that the government is handling the situation. Among the foreign troops are believed to be 300 Zimbabwean soldiers from the Pweto garrison. 8 December: Zambia ask Zimbabwe to repatriate its soldiers. 12 December: Zambia says it has disarmed more than 3,000 foreign soldiers. An unknown number of the combatants arriving in Zambia are pro-Kinshasa Rwandan Hutu militia and Burundi Hutu rebels. “We are disarming the soldiers all right but it is not easy to establish whether they are guilty of genocide,” Defence Minister Chitalu Sampa is quoted as saying. 13 December: The Rwandan Permanent Representative to the United Nations calls on the Security Council to “lend its support to the government and people of Zambia with regard to the disarming and repatriation of Rwandan ex-Forces armees rwandaise (FAR) and Interahamwe forces currently on Zambian territory” who were responsible for the 1994 genocide. 16 December: Reuters reports that 300 Zimbabwean troops are repatriated from Zambia. Zambia’s top soldier, Brigadier-General Timothy Kazembe, says that more than 7,000 heavily-armed foreign troops retreated into the country to escape fighting in eastern DRC. Other reports put the figure at around 4,000. Zambia is reported to have 3,500 overstretched troops at the border. Humanitarian sources say that Zambia has appealed for assistance from the UN Secretary-General and consultations are on-going. 20 December: A UNHCR official says the total number of DRC refugees arriving in Zambia since November is around 25,000. The bulk of them have settled spontaneously in border villages. The influx slows from 200-300 people per day to just 50. Some 9,000 refugees have been transferred to Kala camp. 27 December: Reuters reports that a Rwandan justice ministry team arrives in Zambia hoping to screen foreign troops for Rwandan Interahamwe militia. ‘The Post’ newspaper reports the rebel capture of Mulilo. Around 1,000 refugees flee into Zambia and are encamped on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, UNHCR says. 29 December: The UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) applies for permission to also screen foreign troops and refugees for genocide suspects and witnesses. 3 January: ICTR reports that it has been given the go-ahead by the Zambian authorities to interview suspected Rwandan militia members. 4 January: UNHCR warns that an “impending” attack on rebel-held Pweto by DRC government forces could result in a fresh influx of 10,000 refugees into Zambia. Meanwhile, DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila meets Zambian leader Frederick Chiluba in the copperbelt town of Ndola to discuss security issues and the fate of the detained soldiers in Kaputa. News reports say agreement is reached on their repatriation, preventing them being screened by the ICTR or Rwandan authorities.