"Mineral mining rights in Congo have been promised to Zimbabwe in return for military support."
Zimbabwe sends more troops to aid Kabila
By Christopher Bishop in Harare
Daily Telegraph, October 23
TROOP carriers and armoured cars rumbled through Harare early yesterday for a heralded counter-offensive against the rebel-held east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The build-up came as the rebels claimed that fighting had started around the diamond-rich city of Mbuji-Mayi in the south of the former Zaire, but there was no confirmation of the report. Military sources in Harare said infantry units were being readied to reinforce about 2,800 Zimbabwean soldiers, backed by helicopters and Hawk jet fighters, who are already in the Congo in support of President Laurent Kabila.
The deployment followed the call by the presidents of Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe on Wednesday to intensify the conflict. However, military experts have already cast doubt on the plan to flush Tutsi rebels out of the hinterland that lies in the east of the Congo.
Col Lionel Dyck, a former staff officer in the Zimbabwe National Army, said: "There's no way the army can support any operations in the east. It's too far from the allied supply bases and too close to the rebel supply lines." He also warned that the heavy jungle of the east could lend itself to a running war characterised by the continued capture and loss of towns with the allied forces likely to end up struggling to keep roads open.
Michael Quintana, the Harare-based writer for Jane's Defence Weekly, said the allies lacked sufficient air cover for the push into the east and could find themselves bogged down by seasonal rains. He said: "The rebels seem to prefer set-piece battles with rockets and mortars. I think they are likely to roll with the allied punch and hit back with a sting."
Motives for Zimbabwe's initiative in leading the allied effort range from political to economic. Mr Mugabe's critics say that he is trying to distract attention from his dismal domestic political record and the dire economic situation. Many Zimbabwean businessmen, including the president's nephew, Leo Mugabe, have close ties with the government in Congo and have been watching developments there with trepidation.
More than 500 Zimbabwean companies opened up business worth tens of millions of US dollars, at the encouragement of their government, after Mr Kabila came to power last year. Everything from food to furniture and cooking pots have been exported from Zimbabwe, but many businesses fear that if Mr Kabila falls so, too, will their chances of being paid.
Sources close to the government also claim that mineral mining rights in Congo have been promised to Zimbabwe in return for military support.
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