Fifty-seven rebels have been killed in Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern Ituri region during a three-day offensive by government troops backed by United Nations peacekeepers, the army said on Tuesday.
”Fighting was very fierce. Losses were heavy. One of our men was killed and seven wounded. As for the enemy, we counted 57 dead and several wounded,” said the army spokesperson in Ituri, Captain Olivier Mputu.
The joint operation, which began on Saturday and ended on Monday evening, was aimed at disarming militiamen in an area 35km south of Bunia, the main town in Ituri.
”We believe that as of this evening the theatre of operations has been cleared of its militias and is now secure,” said Mputu.
”Fighting lasted three days in the area of Kagaba. The militiamen tried to resist, firing mortars and rockets,” he added.
Many of these forces are members of the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front, an armed group drawn from Ituri’s Lendu ethnic group created in November 2002 with backing from Uganda.
Most members of the group gave up their weapons between April and June during a demobilisation operation that involved 15 000 fighters in Ituri. Its leader, Germain Katanga, was arresed in Kinshasa in March.
About 700 government troops took part in the latest operation.
They were backed by Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Moroccan troops from the UN mission in DRC, known as Monuc.
”The peacekeepers stayed in the rear, to stop the militiamen overrunning the front line and also to evacuate the wounded,” explained the army spokesperson.
”Some militiamen fled west, others southwest, towards Nord-Kivu province. They are in total disarray and have abandoned their weapons.”
A spokesperson for the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said thousands of civilians had fled the fighting.
”Humanitarian workers were able to reach Kagaba yesterday [Monday]. The village was deserted. Thousands of people have fled,” said spokesperson Modibo Traore. – Sapa-AFP