Congo, UN to step up operations against Rwandan rebels

KINSHASA, Tuesday

Congolese soldiers and United Nations peacekeepers will launch a new wave of operations against Rwandan Hutu rebels despite the planned withdrawal this week of Rwanda's army, Congo said on Monday.

Neighbouring Rwanda sent thousands of troops into eastern Congo's North Kivu province last month and the former foes are conducting joint operations against Rwandan Hutu rebels that have been at the heart of 15 years of conflict in the region.

The operations are politically sensitive for Congo's President Joseph Kabila given that Kinshasa has frequently accused Rwanda of abuses and looting natural resources in the east during Kigali's past forays into Congo to hunt rebels.

Rwanda has said its soldiers will withdraw by Wednesday.

"There is a plan for South Kivu that concerns only the Congolese army and (the UN peacekeepers). We will not involve the joint force," Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende told Reuters on Monday.

The Rwandan rebels, known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), are spread out between the two eastern Kivu provinces and number about 6,000 fighters.

Mende did not say when operations would start but said they would continue "until the threat is eliminated 100 percent".

While there has been an increase in numbers of FDLR joining a UN-backed disarmament programme since the joint operations began, the offensive has failed to capture or kill significant numbers as rebels have melted into the bush.

Human Rights Watch said earlier this month that 100 Congolese villagers have been killed in reprisals by the rebels during the operations and aid agencies have accused UN peacekeepers of failing to protect civilians.

With some 17,000 soldiers in Congo, the UN force, known as Monuc, helped usher the country to post-war elections in 2006.

But it is thinly stretched amid fighting in the Kivus and violence to the north, where Ugandan rebels have killed hundreds in response to another regional attack on Congo-based rebels.

The UN force has been sidelined from both joint operations and has also complained about the involvement of Congolese officers accused of war crimes.

A Monuc spokesman confirmed that peacekeepers would take part in the mission in South Kivu.

"It will begin. We do not have the date yet. But first, there will be a planning meeting to talk about the role MONUC will play," said Monuc's Madnodje Mounoubai.

Some of the FDLR took part in Rwanda's 1994 genocide and then fled into Congo's east, where they were pursued by Kigali's Tutsi-led army, sparking cycles of killings and two Congo wars.

Congo's 1998-2003 war sucked in six neighbouring armies and sparked a humanitarian crisis that has killed over 5 million.

Fighting at times alongside Congolese government soldiers in a complex regional conflict, the FDLR have long since integrated into communities in Congo's east, where they survive through farming, mining and extortion rackets. (Reuters)