Zimbabwe's military adventure has turned sour for its soldiers in the Congo, writes Jan Raath in Harare.
Mugabe tries to head off army mutiny
The Times, Saturday
THE Zimbabwean Army has sent about 1,500 military
policemen to the Democratic Republic of Congo because
it fears there may be a mutiny among the estimated 6,000
Zimbabwean soldiers fighting there, it was reported in
Harare yesterday.
The weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, quoting
unnamed military sources, said indiscipline among the
Zimbabweans had reached "crisis proportions".
There has been widespread opposition among troops to
fighting a war in a remote country to prop up its dictator,
President Kabila.
The anti-war sentiment has been compounded by erratic
food and medical supplies to the force after President
Mugabe's decision last month to open a new front in the
distant east of the Congo in the Tutsi rebels' territory, the
newspaper said. High casualties among the Zimbabweans,
and infiltration by rebel spies, had further damaged
morale, it said.
The newspaper claimed that four senior army officers
were to be court-martialled for failing to report for duty.
Colonel Chancellor Diye, the army spokesman, denied
that indiscipline was widespread, and he would not make
any comment on the allegations of court-martial
proceedings.
There have been several unconfirmed reports in Harare
previously of soldiers being arrested for speaking out
against the war. Last week the authorities announced that
13 Democratic Republic of Congo army officers had been
executed for deserting their men and their weapons in the
face of enemy fire. The Zimbabwean Government has
tried to maintain secrecy over its operations, and the
army's only admission of casualties was made late in
August, soon after the force was deployed, when it said
that eight men had died.
Opposition to the war is gaining momentum, and calls for
the withdrawal of troops are aired angrily on the streets of
Harare. The Government has been silent on the cost of the
war, but it is widely regarded as one of the main causes of
the country's current economic crisis. |
