Kinshasa - The Democratic Republic of Congo's defence ministry said on Tuesday that more than 1 400 insurgent soldiers had surrendered to the regular army last week in the east of the vast, war-scarred country.
"On Friday (February 3) morning, insurgents visibly tired of serving an unjust cause sent two officers to meet the defence minister (Adolphe Onusumba) in Goma," the main town in east DRC's Nord-Kivu province, the ministry said in a memo sent to AFP.
"The minister immediately decided to travel to the place where these men had gathered, near Masisi," the text said.
The 1 463 soldiers, who have handed in their weapons, were part of a brigade of the DRC's former national army made up of remnants from the Congolese Rally for Democracy, a Rwandan-backed rebel group that played a key role in the DRC's 1998-2003 civil war.
According to the ministry, the men, followers of dissident general Laurent Nkunda, will be sent to a training camp before being inducted into the DRC's new integrated army.
An international arrest warrant has been issued for Nkunda, who has said he wants to overthrow the Kinshasa government. - Sapa-AFP