Congo's defeated foreign mercenaries head home with 'big relief'

By Edwin Waita and Hereward Holland

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Nearly 300 foreign mercenaries hired by the Democratic Republic of Congo government to counter a swift offensive by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the east have surrendered and were on their way home on Wednesday.

Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, was captured by M23 earlier this week, cornering the mercenaries, remnants of Congo's army and its allied militias against Lake Kivu and the Rwandan border.

With nowhere else to retreat to, they handed themselves over to United Nations peacekeeping troops in Goma, who then arranged for their transit home through neighbouring Rwanda.

"We are just relieved because we can go finally home ... it's a big relief," said one, identifying himself as a Romanian who had been in Goma for about two years.

"Goma is devastated because of the war between the Rwandans and the Congolese," he told Reuters as he crossed the border to Rwanda, declining to give his name.

Rwanda denies backing the rebels but says it has taken what it calls defensive measures, and accuses Congo of fighting alongside perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Hired to bolster Congo's underpaid and disorganised army, the mercenaries operated high-tech military drones that had long been effectively grounded by Rwandan air defences, according to an analysis by the International Crisis Group.

Congo employed the services of Agemira RDC, a subsidiary of a Bulgarian-based parent company, for logistics, as well as Congo Protection, led by a former member of the French Foreign Legion, for training, said Henry-Pacifique Mayala from Kivu Security Tracker (KST), which maps unrest in eastern Congo.

With almost no coordination between the two military contractors, or other actors on the ground, the mercenaries' role made the conflict even worse, Mayala said.

LONG HISTORY OF MERCENARIES IN CONGO

Their record adds to a long history of Congo hosting hired guns whose efforts often ended in failure.

Some older Congolese remember the use of mercenaries in the 1960s, including a group led by "Mad Mike" Hoare, who supported the failed attempt of the mineral-rich southern state of Katanga to secede from Kinshasa.

Before crossing the border, one of the mercenaries was upbraided by M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma in front of a gaggle of journalists, telling him he should not "have come for adventures in Congo," according to a video shared by Rwanda's New Times newspaper.

"We have a very rich country. But with greedy leaders. They recruited you, you receive $8,000 per month and you are fed, while (Congolese soldiers) receive less than $100," Ngoma said.

Asked where he trained, the mercenary said it was with the French Foreign Legion, a unit of the French army that accepts volunteers from around the world. France's foreign and defence ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

At the border crossing between Goma and its Rwandan twin city of Gisenyi, Reuters reporters saw dozens of burly men, many bearded, some in fatigues, lining up to be patted down by police and have their luggage examined by sniffer dogs.

One man wore a shirt emblazoned with "REGIMENT ETRANGER DES PARACHUTISTES", the French Foreign Legion's parachute regiment, which successfully fought in Zaire, Congo's former name, in 1978 to rescue European and local hostages held by a rebel group.

Rwanda's army said it took in over 280 Romanian mercenaries on Wednesday and would transport them to the capital Kigali. The men boarded the buses in silence.

(Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon and Hereward Holland; writing by Hereward Holland; editing by Mark Heinrich)