----- Original Message ----- 
From: Vovi Uganda e.V. 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Cc: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 7:34 PM
Subject: Uganda: 2,000 ex-fighters still in Congo - UN


Uganda: 2,000 ex-fighters still in Congo - UN
By Mercy Nalugo & Agencies
April 3, 2004

      Army denies claim

      KAMPALA - There are no Ugandan former fighters still holed up in the DR Congo as the United Nations claims, the army spokesman has said.

      The director of the disarmament and repatriation programme for the UN mission to the DRC Peter Swarbrick said on Wednesday that 2,000 Ugandan former fighters who participated in what has been termed as Africa's world war between 1998 and 2003 are still in the vast country.

      He also said that there are up to 8,000 Rwandans and 1,500 Burundian former fighters still in the DRC.

      "The will exists [for them to return home], especially for the troops, but it seems that their officers are putting pressure on them to stay," Swarbrick told the French News Agency.

      Army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza on Thursday denied the UN claim.
      "UN may be speculating like the Human Rights Watch report on Uganda. If they have seen them [ex-Ugandan fighters], let them bring them back," Bantariza said.

      "As Uganda Peoples Defence Forces, we shall be happy to receive them," Bantariza said by telephone.

      He said it is not the army's job to repatriate the former fighters.
      But the major wondered where such people kept when their colleagues were leaving the DRC. 

      He said the ex-combatants could be there on their own will
      According to the UN, most of the ex-fighters live in desperate conditions, and many have families with them. 

      Mr Swarbrick adds that this means there are still up to 40,000 people to repatriate.

      According to official UN statistics, 10,468 people, including 7,086 ex-militiamen, left the DRC between January 2003 and March 31, 2004.

      A peace deal and the formation of a transitional government last year appeared to signal the end of a five-year conflict in the DRC which pitted government forces, backed by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda.
     

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