Rwandan troops to leave Congo

Rwanda will begin withdrawing its troops this week from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after a joint operation with Congolese forces against Rwandan Hutu rebels, a joint military spokesman said.

The Rwandan troops in Nord-Kivu province "have begun their disengagement," said Congloese Captain Olivier Amuli by telephone from regional capital Goma.

After a farewell ceremony on Wednesday, the Rwandan troops "will begin to return to Rwanda," which should take "two or three days," the spokesman said.

A farewell ceremony for the Rwandan troops will take place in Goma that day, including a "joint military parade," he added.

A spokesman for the DR Congo government, Lambert Mende, told AFP that several officials from both countries will attend the ceremony and that the joint operation "has achieved its objectives.

"We have smashed their command structure and general quarters, setting in motion the voluntary repatriation of up to 3,500 rebels, being sent home or going to be sent home," he said, adding that the DR Congo armed forces, the police and the UN will oversee their return.

No official comment was immediately available from Rwanda.

DR Congo President Joseph Kabila said last month that the Rwandan troops would leave his country by the end of this month at the latest.

The two countries, in a surprise move, joined forces January 20 in the volatile Nord-Kivu region to drive out members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and repatriate civilians displaced by fighting.

Some 6,500 FDLR Hutu rebels staked out positions in DR Congo after fleeing there after the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which some of them participated.

While the joint chiefs-of-staff, based in the Nord-Kivu capital of Goma, have not yet released any exhaustive reports or tolls, they said Friday they were positive the operation was achieving what it set out to accomplish.

"The objective is nearly reached," according to a statement from Kigali that said troops had destroyed the "main FDLR bases."

Diplomatic sources cautioned that despite the apparent success of the operation between two parties who have clashed in the past, the rebels retain the capacity to cause trouble in the region.