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Kabila Troops Flee Rebel Fire
January 29, 1999
Bangui - Congolese troops fleeing advancing rebels in the former Zaire have fled
across the border into Central African Republic, looting and harassing local
people, residents and church sources said on Thursday.
The member of parliament for the area, Charles Armel Doubane, told Reuters that 2,200 soldiers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo had entered the town of Zemio on January 8. They had been based in Gbadolite, the northern Congolese hometown of the ex-Zaire's late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, which is just across the border from Zemio, a town of some 14,000 inhabitants. He said a handful of Congolese officers had since been repatriated but the bulk of the soldiers remained, creating tension and fear among the local population.
In a statement issued in the Central African Republic's capital Bangui on Wednesday, Doubane called on his government to take "urgent steps to see that these troops leave the town immediately". "They loot, rape, hassle, provoke and humiliate Central Africans -- victims of their own hospitality, on their own territory," the statement said. Zambian President Frederick Chiluba arrived in Zimbabwe Thursday to consult President Robert Mugabe on plans to end the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwean officials said. "He is here for an exchange of views. . .and to see how the search for peace can be enhanced and speeded," one said.
Chiluba has been spearheading regional peace efforts to end the war but called off a peace summit in the Zambian capital Lusaka earlier this month after a rift opened up between parties who want Congolese President Laurent Kabila to engage in direct talks with his rebel foes and those who do not. "We are worried because Zemio faces Gbadolite and in the event of an attack by rebels pursuing loyalist forces, the population will suffer," the statement added.
Church sources in contact with Zemio corroborated the situation described by the parliamentarian. They added that a small unit of some 50 Central African Republic soldiers was based close to Zemio but was ineffective in the face of the much larger Congolese force.
There was no immediate comment from the Central African Republic government, which has signed a defence accord with embattled Congolese President Laurent Kabila in his war with the rebels, backed by Uganda and Rwanda. Meanwhile, a meeting between President Yoweri Museveni and rebel leader Wamba dia Wamba and group to resolve the rebel internal wrangles was still on by 10.00pm last night but the agenda was unkonwn.
Prof. Arthur Zaidi Ngoma, formerly the rebel second vice-president who quit the rebel movement Wednesday, was sighted in Kampala yesterday at the Nile Hotel. Earlier, sources said Museveni criticised the rebels for ignoring his advice to restructure but leave the door open for new forces to join the movement.
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