A number of Rwandan soldiers said to have been captured by pro-government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been flown to Zimbabwe.

A military spokesman in Harare said they had been captured in August when a rebel advance on Kinshasa was repulsed.

He added that they had been sent to Zimbabwe to ease overcrowding in prison camps in Kinshasa.

He gave no further details but reports say forty Rwandans are involved and that Zimbabwe could use them to bargain for the release of sixteen of its own soldiers captured by the rebels in eastern Congo last month.