Nujoma promises August withdrawal

President Sam Nujoma said on Sunday that all foreign troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would be withdrawn by the end of August, Nampa has reported. The president made the announcement at a reception which he hosted in honour of 300 Namibian Defence Force (NDF) soldiers who returned from the DRC. Some 150 soldiers arrived at Hosea Kutako International Airport on Sunday, while the rest had arrived last week at Grootfontein Military base, the report said. In his welcoming remarks, Nujoma said the NDF had played a major role in preventing the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, from being captured by Ugandan and Rwandan forces and their rebel elements in August 1998. “We, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states comprising of Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe decided to positively respond to the request of the legitimate government of the DRC under the leadership of the late President Laurent-Desire Kabila, when his country and people were threatened with death and destruction by the rebel forces supported by Rwanda and Uganda,” he was quoted as saying.