DR of Congo: UN mission launches new military operation in troubled east

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has launched a new military operation in the troubled eastern Ituri region of the vast country, deploying five fighting companies with aerial support to force a rebel Rwandan militia to fulfil its pledges to disarm and return home.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has launched a new military operation in the troubled eastern Ituri region of the vast country, deploying five fighting companies with aerial support to force a rebel Rwandan militia to fulfil its pledges to disarm and return home.

Referring to the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Lieutenant-Colonel Thierry Provendier said at the weekly news conference yesterday: “The South and North Kivu brigades continue to carry out actions aimed at persuading the FDLR to honour the commitments it made in Rome in March,” adding that they were maintaining pressure on the aggressors who were still dangerous to the region.

The South Kivu Brigade was deployed in the territories of Walungu and Kabare, as well as in Shabunda, where a South African company was also controlling the area, the military spokesman for the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC) said.

In North Kivu, MONUC reconnaissance activities had located the FDLR camps as it worked on security for the 9,238 voter registration centres across the vast country, for which it worked along with the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) to provide security, he said.

“MONUC is planning to participate in the training of 9 FARDC (Congolese Armed Forces) brigades to be deployed in three Eastern DRC provinces prior to the upcoming elections. This final training due to last 45 days is aimed at promoting interoperability between the FARDC brigades and MONUC troops,” Lt. Col. Provendier said.

Responding to new tactical imperatives and the concerns of the population, a Senegalese company was on its way to Ituri from Kisangani to strengthen MONUC’s rapid reaction capacity, he said.

MONUC Deputy Spokeswoman Rachel Eklou-Assogbavi noted that the centres for voter identification and registration in the Kivus and in Maniema Province opened on the scheduled dates and have been operating without incident so far.

Meanwhile, MONUC and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) joined in firmly condemning the incidents of Monday and Tuesday which led to the death of a local notable, she said.

MONUC chief William Lacy Swing today was ending a two-day visit to Kigali, Rwanda, where he attended a meeting of the Tripartite Commission comprising representatives of the DRC, Ugandan and Rwandan Governments, Ms. Eklou-Assogbavi said.