Mugabe says troops to remain in DRC

President Robert Mugabe said on Friday that Zimbabwe and the new leadership in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) should be more determined than ever to fight for their sovereignty following the death of president Laurent-Desire Kabila, state radio reported.

Mugabe, whose country backs Kinshasa in a war against rebels supported by Rwanda and Uganda, said the death of Kabila would not affect relations between the two countries after meeting with a delegation of Congolese cabinet ministers.

But Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told IRIN that keeping a force of over 11,000 troops in the DRC was too costly and very unpopular. “ZANU-PF should use the occasion of Kabila’s untimely death to start a withdrawal from the Congo,” Welshman Ncube, MDC Secretary General said. “Mugabe says we’re in Congo to help the Congolese, everybody knows it’s about his personal business interests with Kabila,” he alleged. Ncube was referring to mining concessions and other business opportunities made available to senior ruling party and military officials as part-payment for Zimbabwe’s military assistance.

The team of DRC officials led by Education Minister Abdoulaye Yerodia met Mugabe to finalise burial arrangements for the slain leader whose body is due to be airlifted from Harare on Saturday for Kabila’s hometown of Lubumbashi en route to the capital Kinshasa. Zimbabwe has been the largest military supporter of Kabila’s since the outbreak of the rebellion in August 1998.