600 Namibians withdrawn

The Namibian Defence Force (NDF) has withdrawn 600 soldiers from the DRC over the past few weeks, Namibian Defence Erkki Nghimtina told ‘The Namibian’ newspaper recently. The NDF has been supporting DRC government forces in the battle against eastern rebels. “The UN-supervised withdrawal started from 12 May when small detachments of soldiers were put on NDF cargo planes that were flying back to Namibia on resupply missions,” Nghimtina was quoted as saying. Although Namibia has so far withdrawn some 30 percent of its 2,000-strong military contingent in the DRC, a complete withdrawal of the NDF from the DRC is expected to be completed by the end of August. “Once we come to September there will be no NDF soldiers in the Congo,” Nghimtina told The Namibian.