Zambia repatriates thousands to Congo

The Zambian government says that thousands of Congolese soldiers held in special camps in Zambia have been sent back to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Defence Minister, Chitalu Sampa, told the BBC that about three-thousand Congolese troops had been repatriated, but that a hundred remained. One source said the bulk of the repatriations took place last week.

The soldiers fled into Zambia following an upsurge of fighting with Rwandan-backed rebels in the border area in December.

A BBC correspondent in Lusaka says there have been suspicions that some who sought sanctuary in Zambia belonged to the Interahamwe, the extremist Hutu force responsible for mass killings during the Rwandan genocide. She says the repatriation will be controversial because the International War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda wanted access to the detained soldiers.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service