DRC nabs S. Sudan refugees to block rebels

The Congolese army has stepped up arrests of South Sudanese refugees and tightened the border in a bid to block rebels from seeking sanctuary in its country, officials say.

As hundreds fled into the Democratic Republic of Congo last week, after President Salva Kiir's government army dislodged Riek Machar's rebel SPLA-IO from its headquarters in southwestern Lasu, some 18 suspected rebels were taken into detention.

It is the first time Congolese authorities have detained a significant number of South Sudanese and may signal a change in Kinshasa's policy towards the neighboring country, riven by a devastating four-year power struggle.

"As of now 15 have been released. They were refugees who were arrested because they had returned to South Sudan without authorization. Three who remain in custody are suspected of being rebels and investigations are ongoing," said Alexis Kabambi, who heads the National Commission for Refugees (CNR) in the Congolese town of Aba.

Until recently, members of the SPLA-IO were able to move relatively freely across the border to Aba, a town they depended on for supplies and medical treatment for their wounded.

But after South Sudan's ambassador visited Aba together with DRC's defense minister in April, local authorities began restricting movement across the border, according to a South Sudanese community leader in Aba and an SPLA-IO official who asked not to be named.

The tightening of cross-border movements is a blow to those who return to South Sudan to harvest their fields in order to supplement their monthly cash allowance, which they say isn't enough to feed their families.

Officials in the DRC suspect a close link between the refugee community and the opposition fighters.

"We know that the women and children are here in the camp while the husbands are part of the rebellion," a police officer said at a recent community gathering in Aba's refugee settlement.

The officer called upon ex-combatants to report themselves to the army "for their own protection."

SS