90 rebels dead in DRC offensive
2010-03-10 18:08
Kinshasa - Army troops in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have killed 90 Rwandan Hutu rebels since launching a new offensive late last month, the UN mission in the country said Wednesday.
UN troops are backing the DR Congo army in the operation dubbed "Amani Leo" ("Peace Now" in Swahili), which is targeting the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the two Kivu provinces bordering on Rwanda.
The offensive is a follow-up to an assault carried out between March and December last year, which drove the rebels away from densely populated areas but did not achieve the goal of defeating them.
"In Nord-Kivu, two operations have been completed (at) Kashebere and Mayengara, with the following results: on the FDLR side, 23 killed, 40 surrendered and two (rebel) bases destroyed," Madnodje Mounoubai, spokesperson for the UN force Monuc, told a press briefing.
In neighbouring Sud-Kivu province, "four operations have been achieved," with "67 FDLR killed, 28 surrendered and 47 weapons recovered," Mounoubai said without giving any casualty figures for the armed forces, known as FARDC.
The United Nations gives priority to protecting civilians during such army operations. Human rights agencies criticised the UN during last year's assault, dubbed Kimia II, for the high civilian death toll.
The DR Congo is still emerging from a brutal war that engulfed more than half a dozen countries between 1998 and 2003 and Monuc has said it will refuse to work alongside certain FARDC commanders with bad human rights records.
The FDLR is regularly accused of atrocities against civilians in the east of the country and also of illegally exploiting mineral resources in territory under rebel control. Other armed groups are also active in the region.