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http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990224_feat3.html
NDF Say DRC Rebel Claims 'Propaganda'
February 24, 1999
By Chrispin Inambao
Windhoek - A top-ranking NDF soldier yesterday dismissed as "propaganda" reports from the Democratic Republic of the Congo that the rebels have thrown 60 000 troops into an offensive on three fronts targeting Kinshasa.=
Briefing the media at the Ministry of Defence, NDF Chief of Staff, Major-General Martin Shali, flanked by Deputy Commander of the Allied forces, Brigadier James Auala, said the allied forces had recently inflicted heavy casualties on rebel forces.
According to Shali, the rebel forces, supported by Rwanda and Uganda, were suffering such heavy casualties that they did not have time to bury their dead. Dead rebel soldiers were being dumped in rivers and some bodies were just being abandoned.
The veteran soldier said allied troops had had to bury dead rebels left behind by their comrades-in-arms in the presence of officials from the International Red Cross to avoid the possibility of allied forces being accused of slaughtering unarmed civilians. Shali shot down reports of a rebel deployment of 60 000 soldiers, saying if the number had been that big the allied forces' estimated troop strength of about 10 000 would have been overwhelmed and "pushed away" by the rebels.
But said "it is not quantity but quality that counts" and claimed the rebels had been forcefully conscripting children as young as 12 into their ranks. "We know them better than they know themselves," he said of the=
rebels.
However, skirmishes between allied forces and the rebels were taking place on a daily basis. Some of these skirmishes had occurred yesterday morning, said Shali.
Commenting on the rebels much-publicised general offensive, Deputy Commander of Allied Forces, Brigadier James Auala, dismissed the report as "mere propaganda". He cited a number of rebel offensives which had been repelled by allied forces and added that they had the situation in the DRC under control.
In addition, NDF soldiers in the DRC had apparently become "immune to malaria". Shali and other top-ranking NDF soldiers yesterday appealed to members of the Namibian media to visit the DRC so that they could report factually and objectively as some of the reports did not reflect a true picture of what was happening in the DRC.
He also appealed to the business community to exploit many business opportunities existing in the DRC. David Shimwino from firm All-In-One Holdings donated 150 cartons consisting of 1 800 units of a traditional energy-giving non alcoholic drink, Oshikundu, to Namibian troops serving in the DRC.
Secretary General of the Swapo Women's Council, Erica Ramakutla, also handed over stationery, consisting of envelopes and stamps, for the troops. Shali said the two donations would boost the morale of Namibian troops in the DRC and appealed for more donations of this nature.