DRC rebels arrested

The Zambian authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of 10 rebels from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after an exchange of gunfire near the country’s northernmost border town, Kaputa. The announcement reported by ‘The Post’ newspaper and confirmed to IRIN by independent sources in the capital Lusaka, described the rebels as heavily armed. The newspaper said it believed “they were part of a group of 67 rebels which raided the Zambian town of Lambwe Chomba in the same district on 1 June”. In what was the first such reported incursion of its kind in Zambia, a Zambian soldier was shot and killed and two civilians wounded by the rebels during a looting spree the town. No further details of Tuesday arrests were given, and the authorities have declined to speculate on the background of the incident. In recent months, 25,000 Congolese refugees have sought shelter in Zambia where UNCHR is providing them with assistance. To date, UNHCR has transferred 11,000 of the refugees to a new refugee camp outside Mporokoso, some 200 km south of the Kaputa border zone.