MONUC deploys into east DR of Congo where Ugandan-based soldiers briefly seen

The United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) is assisting the country's troops in cordon and search missions in the troubled east, where Ugandan rebels have been sighted and into which Ugandan-based soldiers were reported to have crossed briefly last month.

MONUC said it completed the deployment of 144 troops from the Ituri Brigade yesterday in Aba, near the Sudanese and Ugandan borders and 100 kilometres north of Ituri District's Aru, the site of massive militia disarmament operations earlier this year.

MONUC chief William Lacy Swing said in October that between 100 and 400 fighters from the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) had entered the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from their base in Sudan and were in Aba, in the northeast Haut Uele district of Orientale Province, near the Sudanese and Ugandan borders.

The UN said "some Ugandan-based soldiers" briefly crossed into Congolese territory on 19 October.

It added today that no LRA members have so far been spotted in the area.