DRC announces withdrawal of Zambian troops from their territories

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:35 pm

Zambian troops occupying two villages in the southeast Democratic Republic of Congo have withdrawn after regional mediation led to a step forward in a long-running border dispute, the Congolese authorities has announced.

Fighting broke out in mid-March between the Zambian and Congolese armies when the Zambian troopers took manipulate of the villages at Muliro-Kibambe in Tanganyika province.

One soldier was once killed on each side.

“On the date of August 4, 2020, our able services and all Congolese and foreign officials determined the wonderful shy away of the Zambian troops,” government spokesman David-Jolino Diwampovesa Makelele, declared Thursday.

The pullout used to be made feasible by way of the work of a joint diplomatic mission from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which visited DR Congo on July 22-29, the spokesman said.

A treaty signed in 1989 by DR Congo and Zambia resolved a dispute inherited from the colonial technology regarding the delimitation of land and lake borders between Lake Mweru and Lake Tanganyika, a distance of about 200 kilometers (125 miles).

Border clashes broke out however between the Zambian and Congolese armies in 1996, in 2006 and in September 2016. The disputed place is without problems on hand from the Zambian side, however on the Congolese side, access is made hard with the aid of a swamp.

(lusakatimes)