The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monuc) on
Friday launched a new military operation to combat militia activity in the northeastern Ituri region, a UN spokesperson said in Kinshasa.
”This a cordon-and-search security operation to control the area, being carried out by the equivalent of four companies” or about 800 UN troops, said Lieutenant Colonel Dominique Demange.
The soldiers, backed by combat and transport helicopters, were in action in the Penie region east of Ituri’s main town, Bunia, he added. He gave no details of the operation, which is part of a campaign to disarm local militias who have killed and terrorised thousands of local villagers as well as attacking UN forces.
On March 1, UN forces killed about 60 militiamen in a tough crackdown after nine Bangladeshi soldiers serving in the region were brutally murdered in an ambush reportedly carried out mainly by a group known as the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI).
Monuc — with a current strength of more than 16 500 military, police and civilian personnel — has been deployed in the vast central African country, particularly the volatile east, to undertake disarmament and security duties during the political transition following the DRC’s devastating 1998-2003 war.
Thousands of the UN troops are serving in Ituri close to the Ugandan border — where half a dozen armed ethnic and political militias have maintained high levels of unrest and forced scores of thousands of people to abandon their villages — as well as in provinces further south where tensions remain high.
After the Bangladeshi troops were killed on February 25, senior officers in Monuc’s military wing announced that UN soldiers in the volatile region would exercise their mandate to use force if attacked during duties.
About 200 South African and Pakistani troops took part, again with air support, in the March 1 raid during market day at Loga, where Monuc said it killed 60 militiamen.
Local people have charged that civilians were killed in that attack, but the UN team, which has launched an enquiry, has said its troops were careful not to fire on civilians being used by the militias as ”human shields”.
The FNI is drawn from the region’s majority Lendu ethnic group, whose constant fighting against minority Hemas is mainly responsible for the deaths of more than 50 000 people and the displacement of half a million since 1999.
The latest fighting sent more than 70 000 refugees fleeing to already crowded camps last week, increasing the threat of epidemics and crime. It also may set the stage for a future food shortage as the planting season for crops should be starting now, according to aid groups. – Sapa-AFP