U.N. Troops Ready to Move against DR Congo Rebels
U.N. troops are preparing an offensive against Hutu rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo after plans for a joint operation with the Congolese army fell through, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said Thursday.
Herve Ladsous told reporters following a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the U.N. mission MONUSCO would carry out unilateral operations to drive out the Hutu militia based in eastern DR Congo.
"The Security Council has empowered us to act unilaterally. We are planning to that effect," Ladsous said.
The United Nations pulled its support for the joint operation against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels in February after Kinshasa named two tainted generals to lead the offensive.
U.N. officials demanded that the two generals, who are on a U.N. blacklist of serious rights violators, be sacked.
Ladsous said the Congolese government "doesn't want to create conditions" that would allow MONUSCO to carry out joint operations with the armed forces.
The peacekeeping chief did not provide details of the U.N. mission's planned offensive, but said it would require some cooperation with the army.
The FDLR was established by ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda following the 1994 genocide of 800,000 people, mostly minority Tutsis.
Opposed to President Paul Kagame's Tutsi-dominated government, they are accused of carrying out brutal attacks on civilians in eastern DR Congo and of smuggling gold and charcoal.
Two FDLR leaders are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
The United Nations is pushing for the disarming of dozens of rebel and splinter groups after two decades of conflict in the eastern DR Congo, much of it fueled by the lucrative trade in minerals.
Source: Agence France Presse
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