DRC-UGANDA:
Minister confirms presence of Ugandan rebel groups in east
KINSHASA, 23 October (IRIN) - Mbusa Nyamwisi, the minister for regional
cooperation in the two-year transitional government of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), has confirmed reports of the presence of
Ugandan rebel training camps in his country's northeastern North Kivu
Province, in the region between Beni and Kasindi.
"These camps exist and it is possible that there are other such camps
that have not been identified, because these armed groups are located in
the forest, sometimes in very small camps," Nyamwisi told IRIN on
Thursday.
Nyamwisi is also the leader of the Rassemblement congolais pour la
democratie-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K/ML), a former rebel
movement now party to the DRC national unity government. Prior to this,
RCD-K/ML controlled the region in question.
Ugandan rebel groups such as the National Army for the Liberation of
Uganda (NALU) the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have been active in this
region in the past.
Nyamwisi said he was concerned by recent reports that Uganda had been
mobilising its forces along the joint DRC/Ugandan border.
"For more than a week, Ugandan government troops have been deploying
[in Uganda] along the border with Congo, and authorities in Kampala [the
Ugandan capital] have even threatened to cross over, as has been
previously declared by Kigali [capital of neighbouring Rwanda] under the same
pretext that they were unable to repatriate these groups while their
national armies were there," Nyamwisi said.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has denied having any intention of
sending his forces back into the DRC.