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Zimbabwe Troops Suffer Heavy Casualties in DRC
December 21, 1998
NAIROBI (AANA) - Despite an official United Nations and French government
brokered cease-fire in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) conflict, heavy
fighting has been going on in the east of the country.
A Zimbabwe military spokesman confirmed the loss of a helicopter gun ship in action against the Congolese rebels at Kabalo in eastern Congo. The spokesman admitted that the contested town was still in the hands of rebels.
According to other reports quoting rebel commanders in the battlefield at Kabalo, a total of two Zimbabwe helicopter gun ships were brought down by the rebels while 47 Zimbabwe soldiers perished between December 11 to 13.
Among the dead soldiers is reportedly the battalion commander, an unnamed colonel.
At the Francophone summit in late November and early December, it was agreed that the tentative cease-fire would be followed up by more comprehensive peace talks mid this month. However, those talks failed to take place and were rescheduled for later in December.
Since the outbreak of the rebellion in Congo in August, President Laurent Kabila has consistently refused to talk to the rebels, charging that they are a mere front for Uganda and Rwanda which openly backed the rebels (see feature story this issue for more details).
But after the route of Zimbabwe troops at Kabalo, it is quite likely that Zimbabwe will more sternly urge Kabila to solve the civil war by talking, particularly given that the Angolan army is pulling back home some of its crack battalions in the face of renewed civil war against its own UNITA rebels.
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