Former soldiers who fled the Democratic Republic of Congo after dictator Mobuto Sese Seko was ousted in 1997 will begin returning home in the next few days, a spokesman for the defence ministry said on Monday. Thousands of Zairean Armed Forces (FAZ) fled to Congo Republic, whose capital Brazzaville is across the river from Kinshasa, when the dictator of what was then Zaire was deposed. About 350 former soldiers have camped out at the capital's river port with their families for the past two weeks in the hope of being repatriated. A delegation from Democratic Republic of Congo arrived in Brazzaville at the weekend to meet officials and begin registering and identifying the former fighters. "The repatriation operation of the former FAZ will begin officially in 48 hours," Delion Kimbu Lumpu, a spokesman for Democratic Republic of Congo's Defence Ministry told Reuters. The delegation is in charge of reintegrating the ex-FAZ into Democratic Republic of Congo's new army or civilian life. The presence of the former soldiers had disrupted traffic on the Congo River which divides the two capitals after a group tried to cross two weeks ago but was denied entry into Kinshasa.
