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Congo Rebels Down Namibia Copters Choppers
January 25, 1999
Kampala - The rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) has said
its forces shot down two Namibian helicopters last week, killing 11 allied
military personnel on board. RCD spokesman Sylvain Mbuki said yesterday the
helicopters did not crash due to bad weather as the allied military authorities
claimed, the Rwanda News Agency reported.
The RCD listed the names of the dead, including a DRC army colonel. The rebels claim they have shot down a total of four allied helicopters.
Mbuki said over 100 Zimbabwean soldiers have been killed in the conflict, 17 taken prisoner, five tanks destroyed and two captured. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the rebel claims. Last month, Zimbabwe confirmed it had lost 26 soldiers since intervening in the war in the DRC in August last year, but other sources say the number of casualties is much higher.
The country has up to 6,000 soldiers in DRC. The crisis in the DRC has sucked in several other countries including Angola, Chad, Sudan intervening for Kabila.
Kabila has in turn accused Rwanda and Uganda of fueling the war. Uganda says its forces are there to safeguard its territorial sovereignty against the ADF. who cooperate in the DRC.
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