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http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990324_feat5.html
Source App: [DR Congo soldiers influx a security risk - MP - Netscape]
DR Congo soldiers influx a security risk - MP
March 24, 1999
By Austin Kaluba in Kaputa and Chris Mfula in Lusaka
Lusaka - About 1,150 soldiers have entered Kaputa from DR Congo and the area
Member of Parliament Paul Bupe has complained about the security risk arising
from their harassment of villagers. Mr. Bupe said 1,150 soldiers on Monday had
crossed into Kaputa and that numbers were swelling daily. Chimbamilonga Member
of Parliament Samuel Mukupa said the border line between Nsumbu and Kaputa was a
long unguarded stretch which needed more security men to guard.
"The refugee situation in Kaputa is serious. There are only four policemen in Nsumbu while Nsama has three. These men on the ground have no capacity to handle an influx of the magnitude being experienced," he said. Mr. Bupe said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were repatriating some of the soldiers back to DR Congo through Kasumbalesa as soon as they arrived. About 250 displaced soldiers were at Nsumbu and 250 were squatting at the boma where they have occupied every Government building, churches and schools.
Mr. Bupe said the soldiers mingled easily with the villagers. The residents had been outnumbered by the refugees at a five-to-one ratio. There were plans to move the remaining soldiers to other camps but the ordinary refugees now totalling 15,000 would be shifted to Mporokoso where a new camp had been set up.
The new camp had a capacity to harbour up to 20,000 refugees. There were some fears that firearms were exchanging hands illegally.
Chief Kaputa was worried about the influx of soldiers who were coming in daily in large numbers and freely mixing with villagers. A UNHCR coordinator from Geneva Brian Vaughan said he was happy with the way the Government had handled the influx.
He said the Red Cross and Irish Aid had sent relief materials like food, tents and medicine. The Zambia Red Cross Society (ZRCS) said a group of more than 400 armed Congolese soldiers fled into Zambia through Kaputa district in the Northern Province barely a few days after about 800 of their colleagues were repatriated. ZRCS acting secretary-general Kelvin Chiposwa confirmed the latest entry of the soldiers who were disarmed by Zambian authorities upon entry on Monday.
Mr. Chiposwa confirmed the repatriation of the earlier group comprising about 650 soldiers and 250 policemen who fled a rebel attack in the towns of Pweto and Pepo in DR Congo. "We are yet to receive details on the latest influx of soldiers except that it happened on Monday when at least 450 soldiers from Congo fled into Zambia's Kaputa district along with several civilians.
"What I know is that the earlier group of soldiers and policemen was repatriated by bus and they are now in DR Congo," said Mr. Chiposwa whose organisation is overseeing the welfare of refugees. He said the ZRCS and other UN agencies handling the refugee problem had set up a temporary transit centre for registration and screening of the refugees at Kaputa boma. The ZRSC was monitoring the situation in Mpulungu, another entry point to move all the refugees to the new site at Mwange in Mporokoso.
UNHCR spokesman Dominik Bartsch said preliminary reports received from Kaputa indicated that only 160 soldiers entered Zambia on Monday. Mr. Bartsch said it was difficult for the UNHCR to verify the reports because the soldiers entered the district through Nsumbu where aid agencies did not have representatives on the ground.
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