UN peacekeepers clear area of militia members in eastern DR of Congo

United Nations peacekeeping troops undertook a successful cordon-and-search operation in the Ituri district of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) yesterday, two days after the transit sites for ex-combatants were closed down, and cleared the designated area of militia members, the UN mission said today.

Under heavy weapons fire, the soldiers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Morocco, with Indian air support, forced members of the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front (FRPI) from their hiding-place in Medu, 25 kilometres south of Bunia, the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) said.

The operation was aimed at dislodging the militia members and then disarming them, MONUC's military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Thierry Provendier, said.