Hundreds of DRC Mutineer Soldiers Return to Army

Hundreds of renegade soldiers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have returned back to the national army ahead of a deadline requiring them to resume ranks, military officials say.

The Congolese army (FARDC) spokesman Colonel Sylvain Ekenge said on Thursday  that they have welcomed a “tremendous” number, hundreds of soldiers led by General Bosco Ntaganda, who has since deserted the army, breaking away with a band of his formerly militia  group.

"There is no problem of reintegration" for the mutineers in the army, and that the military chose clemency because the soldiers had been "led away by force" or "tricked" by Ntaganda, said Col Ekenge.

He said operations to hunt for Gen Ntaganda and the remaining mutineers was under way, but was kept secret, after the five-day deadline issued Saturday requiring them to return to their units in North Kivu Province expired.

"We will see how we will catch the small group which remains with general Bosco [Ntaganda], holed up in the [Virunga] park" on the border with Rwanda, he said.

The deserters are said to be returning to the army after facing hardship in the park where they had been hiding out for over a week now, with hunger being cited among other reasons that saw it hard for them to continue resisting.

The renegade soldiers are former members of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebel group under Ntaganda, who had been integrated into the Congolese army under the 2009 peace deal.

Ntaganda, nicknamed the “Terminator” has been indicted by The Hague-based International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including conscription of child soldiers during his rebellion days in the second Congo conflict that claimed over a million lives in fighting, displacing other millions.

Elsewhere the United Nations announced on Thursday that it had started repatriating about 81,000 refugees back to DR Congo from the neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville in a process that will be backed by the UN mission in Congo (MONUSCO).

In a statement issued by the UN humanitarian agency, the governments of the two Congos and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) will ramp up the process which began on May 5 where 81,000 refugees are expected to be repatriated by the end 2013, including 49,000 this year.

The refugees are those who fled Equatorial province during the height of the October 2009 ethnic clashes between the region’s two major tribes over fishing rights that saw intervention of the UN-backed DRC army.

Mogadishu, Somalia

17 Al-Shabab Fighters  Killed in  Clash with Ethiopian Troops

17 al-Shabab rebel fighters have died in fierce fighting with Ethiopian and Somali government forces following the Islamist militant attack on trucks ferrying goods in southern Somalia, local official has said.

Governor of Bakool region Mohamed Abdi Mayow said the militant fighters had been blocking trucks carrying supplies to Hudur, 100km from the Ethiopia border, for seven weeks and had robbed at least five trucks of the supplies.

"They blocked all supplies and unloaded goods. This led to the fierce fighting and we swept al-Shabaab from the area, Mr. Mayow was reported saying by the Reuters news agency.

The Ethiopian force which is part of the African Union peacekeeping mission in southern Somalia, opened a third front against the once feared militia in November, that has recently been seen to be losing on its territories to the AU forces.

Recent increased pressure by government and AU forces has seen the group withdraw from the capital, Mogadishu, resorting to frequent attacks with suicide bombers in public areas, roadside bombs and grenades.

The al-Qaeda linked group said there had been gunfire outside Hudur with the government and Ethiopian forces, but denied claims of any casualties from their side.

 "They ran from seven [of their own] dead bodies as we fought them back. No single al-Shabaab was caught," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesperson for al-Shabaab's military operation said.

Al-Shabab has been fighting the UN-backed transitional government for the last five years, claiming still swathes of territories in central and southern regions of the country, where they continue to extort taxes and looting from the local communities, on which they have imposed harsh Islamic laws.

Somalia has never had a functional government since the ousting of dictatorial leader Siad Barre in 1991, pitting the Horn of Africa state in a seemingly never-ending conflict.