Total DRC Exit To Delay - Kategaya

STOCKHOLM, Wednesday - The full withdrawal of Ugandan troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will not be possible until there is unity and stability in the country, Ugandan foreign minister Eriya Kategaya said Wednesday. "We would not have any reason to maintain troops in the DRC if the country was stable and under control," Kategaya told a news conference after a meeting with his Swedish counterpart, Anna Lindh, whose country currently holds the six-month rotating European Union presidency. He added that the situation in the DRC is not just one of internal politics of relevance only to Kinshasa, as it has broader consequences for neighbouring countries. "The situation affects the whole region," Kategaya said. "Uganda's neighbours, the DRC and Sudan, are faced with serious problems." A troop pullback from front-line positions by all belligerents in the complex war in the DRC began last Thursday under an accord reached in December. The retreat 15 kilometres (nine miles) from about 100 front-line positions by forces is the first phase of a complete withdrawal. Kategaya said seven battalions or some 4,000 soldiers - more than half of the forces Uganda had committed to the DRC - had been redeployed from the front lines. He said on Tuesday, a battalion of Rwandan soldiers, almost 800 men, had been repatriated by plane from the DRC to Kigali. Rwanda and Uganda are the principal backers of rebels who launched a rebellion in 1998. Ends