July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Thursday, July 26, 2001 - Web posted at 09:38:03 GMT

Zambians detain Angolan soldiers in frontier towns

COLOR="#333333">LUSAKA - Zambian security forces have detained 22 Angolan government soldiers who wandered into their territory apparently in search of food, officials said yesterday.

They said 10 soldiers were detained in the northwestern frontier town of Zambezi while the 12 others were taken in at Mwinilunga, further north.

Both are in areas often targeted by Angolan government troops and rebel Unita forces seeking to resupply with food.

Zambezi District Administrator Chris Kwalombota told reporters the Angolans had been disarmed on capture on Sunday and detained at undisclosed sites in Zambezi pending further instructions from the government in the capital Lusaka.

Mwinilunga District Administrator Peter Mpashi said the Angolans had on Sunday entered his area heavily armed and appeared keen to exchange some of their tinned fish and meat for seasonal tubers such as groundnuts and cassava.

In Lusaka, Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa and police spokesman Lemmy Kajoba declined any comment.

Zambia is home to some 255 000 refugees - some 180 000 of them long-term settlers from the 26-year civil war that pits the Angolan government against Jonas Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita).

Guns filtering in from the wars in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo are blamed for rising crime in Zambian towns. - Nampa-Reuters

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