Rwandan Troops Begin Withdrawing
Rwandan troops began pulling back from their positions around a town on the front line of the war in Congo early today, marking the first major withdrawal since the war began 2 1/2 years ago, a Rwandan commander said.
About 3,000 troops were leaving Pweto, said Col. Karaka Karenze, head of operations for the Rwandan army. Five U.N. military observers were to monitor the pullout near the Zambian border, as agreed to under a peace plan reached last year.
Rebels took up arms against President Laurent Kabila in 1998, accusing him of corruption and fostering ethnic hatred. Rwanda and Uganda backed the rebels. Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia intervened to prop up Kabila, who died last month. The five foreign armies have done most of the fighting in the war and have evenly divided the country.
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