Congo general accused as soldiers die of hunger

LUBUMBASHI, Congo - A Congolese general is being accused of diverting military food trains for private business after at least 20 soldiers died from hunger or malnutrition at a southern camp.

The new national army is facing accusations of abuse and indiscipline as Democratic Republic of Congo prepares to hold its first free, democratic elections in 40 years in June, hoping to emerge from decades of war, dictatorship and chaos.

A defence ministry source said Defence Minister Adolphe Onusumba had written to the head of the army asking him to suspend or arrest General Widi Mbuilu Divioka, the army commander in Katanga province.

"He (Divioka) had been taking over the wagons on the train that is supposed to take food to soldiers in training. Instead of ferrying food, he used them for his own private business," the source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Divioka denied the charges.

"I know I am innocent. People can come and investigate for themselves," he said.

But a United Nations official also accused the general of failing to deliver scheduled food supplies to an army training camp at Kamina, where soldiers had been dying from lack of food.

"Twenty of the soldiers have now died," the official, who spoke on the condition he was not identified, told Reuters. "The conditions remain appalling," he added.

The defence ministry source said the general had "definitely contributed to the misery of the soldiers" at the Kamina camp.

Katanga's Vice-governor Tshikez Diemu called him "a bandit".

"He (Divioka) has been involved in smuggling of goods. He said he was using the train to bring food to soldiers in Kamina. But he simply used it for his own business," Diemu said.

The row highlighted the problems within Congo's fledgling national army that is supposed to bring together a variety of groups since Congo's five-year war officially ended in 2003.

The army remains chaotic and undisciplined just months ahead of polls scheduled for June 18, which the international community hopes will usher in a period of peace and stability.

Under peace deals that ended Congo's 1998-2003 war, tens of thousands of soldiers from government units, rebels groups and local militias were supposed to integrate into a national army charged with pacifying the vast, mineral-rich nation.

But the process is behind schedule, with a handful of the integrated brigades operational, soldiers on the ground lacking basic supplies and training taking place in poor conditions.

Congo's army is meant to be operating alongside thousands of UN peacekeepers in the run-up to the elections, attempting to pacify renegade militias and marauding rebel groups, especially in the lawless east.

But local residents and UN officials say the unpaid and poorly supplied army units are often as much of a threat to the civilian population as the rebels they are meant to fight.

The simmering conflict in Congo's east kills 1,000 people every day, mostly from hunger and disease, experts say, adding to the 4 million estimated to have died since 1998.

- REUTERS