WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2001-08-25 Posted By: Jan
From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 8/25/2001 11:17:11 PM
Mugabe Orders Secret Burial of Soldiers in the DRC
From: WWW.ZwNews.com
author/source:Independent (UK) published:Sat 25-Aug-2001 posted on this
site:Sat 25-Aug-2001
“Most of the families of the dead soldiers are still under the impression
that their brave sons are on tour of duty”
By Basildon Peta in Harare
President Robert Mugabe’s army, which is fighting a secret and unpopular war
in the Congo, has decreed that the bodies of soldiers who fall in combat be
buried in the jungle rather than come home in body bags. Sent to die in his
war-for-profit in the Congo, they are being buried there without the
knowledge of their families, The Independent has learned. To avoid stirring
public unrest, the regime has kept the number of soldiers who have died a
closely guarded secret.
In an exclusive interview, an officer among the estimated 16,000 Zimbabwean
troops serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said 22 members of
his battalion had been buried in situ earlier this year after top officers
ordered that their bodies should not be repatriated. He said other corpses
were left to decompose. The source, a captain, said: “I think the reason the
army is burying its dead soldiers in the DRC is to control the damage and
alarm that would greet the arrival of many dead bodies in Harare. Most of the
families of the dead soldiers are still under the impression that their brave
sons are on tour of duty. Top officers have instructed that a greater
majority of those who die in combat should be buried in the DRC.”
The war is unpopular in cash-strapped Zimbabwe, which has neither a border
nor historical links with the former Belgian Congo. Zimbabwe’s
British-advised defence force was for many years considered one of the most
professional in Africa – one which would not willingly leave its men to rot
on the battlefield. But in August 1998, the country entered the DRC war on
the side of the late Laurent-Desire Kabila, alongside Angola and Namibia. As
payment, Zimbabwe has received diamond and cobalt concessions and top
officers are known to have struck lucrative business deals.
But Zimbabwe’s rock-bottom reserves of foreign exchange are believed to have
led to a shortage of weaponry. Low-ranking soldiers are receiving their
promised $13 per day bonuses in worthless Congolese francs. It is understood
that all but one or two of Zimbabwe’s 12 British-made Hawk fighter aircraft
are grounded due to a lack of spares. Britain stopped supplying spares last
year but these are usually available on the black market. Officially,
Zimbabwe’s contribution has been long described as 11,000-strong, backed by
the Hawks. Harare earlier this year claimed to have withdrawn 2,000 men but
is known later to have sent reinforcements, which may have pushed the number
as high as 16,000. The source also criticised top Zimbabwean officers for
adopting lavish lifestyles and using professional soldiers to guard their
mining concessions.