DR of Congo: UN peacekeepers dismantle three militia camps in country's east

In the third operation if its kind this month, MONUC, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has destroyed three camps belonging to the rebel Integrationist Nationalist Front (FNI) in the north-eastern Orientale province, the UN spokesman said today.

The three camps removed yesterday were located at Amee, Zavi and Nyamokaka, near Mona, more than 100 kilometres north of the main town in the region, Bunia, according to a UN spokesman.

On 5 December, MONUC carried out a similar operation against the Armed Forces of the Congolese People (FAPC) in Ndrele, about 20 kilometres south-west of Mahagi. Four days later, the peacekeepers undertook another manoeuvre against the FAPC, that time in Mahagi itself.

Yesterday's move came early in the morning. UN troops razed huts in the camps but made no arrests. Local people, often victims of harassment and exactions by the FNI, welcomed the action, according to MONUC.