200 Katanga Province Policemen Vanish With Guns

GOMA, (Democratic Republic of Congo) — Almost 200 policemen attached to the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (DRC) in the southeastern town of Pweto deserted last week, rebel sources said on Sunday. Almost the entire RCD police contingent in the town, in North Katanga province, left with their weapons, according to a local rebel government official contacted by radio from the RCD headquarter town of Goma. RCD military sources in Goma confirmed the report, but were unable to say if the deserters had given themselves up to forces loyal to the DRC government by crossing a nearby frontline, or had fled across the adjacent border with Zambia. There are no RCD troops in Pweto, a strategically important town on the shores of Lake Moero, these forces having pulled back 80 kilometres (50 miles)to the northeast. The RCD, which is sponsored by Rwanda, maintains an administrative and, until last week at least, a police presence in the town. Under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1399, passed in March, Pweto is due to be demilitarised and transferred to the control of the Kinshasa government.AFP