Fighting in the Eastern Congo / M23 Rebels

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Fresh fighting has erupted in eastern Congo, after more than 100 armed men disguised in women's clothing entered the country from Rwanda, say residents.

The heavy fighting between the Congo army and M23 rebels resumed Monday morning after starting on Sunday following the arrival of the armed men in women's clothes, say local inhabitants.

"They were wearing kikwembe" - a Congolese shawl worn by women - "over their uniforms, and women's headscarves," said Bifumbu Ruhira, a farmer at the village of Kanyarucinya on the front line between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels, who started fighting the government last year.

Ruhira told the Associated Press he saw the oddly dressed combatants get off two trucks on the Rwandan side and run across the border. "They were wearing kikwembe to confuse us, to conceal the fact they were soldiers," he said. "The whole village was afraid and I said to my wife, 'Get to Goma,'" he said, naming the nearby provincial capital which he thought would be safe from the fighting.

Another resident, Bakari Murefu, confirmed the account and said the fighting broke out at 2 p.m. Sunday, shortly after the armed men crossed the border and reinforced the M23 rebel ranks located some three kilometers (1.6 miles) from Kanyarucinya.

A report published last month by the United Nations panel of experts studying Congo alleges that Rwandan soldiers have joined the M23 in recent months, a claim that Rwanda adamantly denies.

Last year, the U.N. experts alleged that entire units from the Rwandan army had travelled to Congo to reinforce the M23 in battle. Though Rwanda has consistently denied supporting M23, the allegations have been deemed plausible by numerous donor countries, which have cut off aid to Rwanda over the accusations.

Both sides blamed each other for the renewed fighting Sunday, which continued until dusk, and then resumed Monday morning.

The Congolese army and Rwandan rebel allies attacked the M23 positions 12 kilometers (7 miles) north of Goma, charged rebel spokesman Vianney Kazarama.

It is not clear which side has the upper hand in the fighting. Small arms, mortar and rocket fire was moving west, suggesting the M23 was making progress. But the heavier fire appeared to be coming from the Congolese army, which was reinforced with tanks.

Morale seemed high on the army side, where Col. Jacky Zeng told the AP: "The M23 are attacking us again so as to be noticed. They are worried that people have forgotten about them."

Peace talks between the Congolese government and the M23 stalled again last week as the head of the M23 delegation, Rene Abandi, complained that the head of the government delegation had left the talks.

There has also been renewed fighting further north on Congo's border with Uganda, where an Islamist Ugandan rebel group has occupied several villages near the town of Beni. More than 60,000 civilians have fled from the area to Uganda, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Congo, an enormous nation which stretches across a territory as large as Western Europe, has been repeatedly dragged into conflict by rebellions in its troubled east. The complex conflict traces its roots to the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, led by the country's Hutu majority. The killers fled across the porous border into Congo, where they regrouped into a number of rebel groups. To fight them, Rwanda's Tutsi-led government is accused of financing and providing military and logistic support to rebel groups made up of mostly Tutsi fighters, the ethnic group that bore the brunt of the genocide.

The latest Tutsi-led group in eastern Congo is the M23, which is made up of fighters from a previous Tutsi-led rebellion whose leaders had reluctantly agreed to join the ranks of the Congolese army in 2011. In April of last year, these former rebels-turned-soldiers defected en masse from the Congolese military, creating M23, which went on to invade and briefly occupy the major eastern city of Goma late last year. The speed with which the rebels took the city, marching past thousands of U.N. peacekeepers and systematically overtaking Congolese military positions, led many to conclude that the new rebel group was propped up by Rwanda.

---

Associated Press writer Rukmini Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.


Source : Sapa-AP /sdv/hdw/clh
Date : 15 Jul 2013 14:40
 
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DR Congo says 130 dead in clashes with Rebels

Fighting between troops and rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least 130 people including 10 soldiers, the government said Monday, the deadliest clashes in months.

Loud blasts rang out north of the flashpoint city of Goma Monday afternoon, and up to 1,000 people fled towards the city in a cloud of dust, an AFP photographer reported.

"Our forces have inflicted very heavy losses on the M23 fighters, 120 have been killed and 12 captured," government spokesman Lambert Mende said.

Mende said 10 soldiers had also died in the ongoing clashes between the army and rebels of the M23 group.

The fighting broke out Sunday outside Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the volatile east -- an area rich in minerals including gold and coltan, a key component in cell phones and other electronic equipment.

Several Congolese army tanks fired at M23 positions Monday. Mortar fire could also be heard.

The M23 briefly seized Goma late last year before withdrawing under international pressure.

Mende said that this time they had attacked army positions supported by Rwandan troops.

"For several weeks the M23 rebels and their Rwandan allies have been reinforcing their positions," he said.

The M23, an armed group launched by Tutsi former soldiers who mutinied from the Congolese army in April 2012, blamed the government for the fighting.

In a statement it condemned "in the strongest terms the resumption of war initiated by the Congolese government".

The group, which says it is fighting for the full implementation of a peace deal that incorporated an earlier rebel group into the Congolese army, said it was committed to peace talks.

United Nations experts have accused both Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the M23, and US President Barack Obama earlier this month urged the DR Congo's neighbours "to stop supporting armed groups".

Both countries have denied the charges.

The UN has its largest peacekeeping mission in the world in DR Congo, including a new "intervention brigade" created by the Security Council in March to fight armed groups -- the first offensive unit ever authorised by the UN.

UN soldiers did not intervene in the recent clashes, Mende said.

In a statement, the UN force in the region MONUSCO confirmed the use of tanks and heavy artillery.

"Any attempt by the M23 to advance toward Goma will be considered a direct threat to civilians," it warned.

UN peacekeepers were prepared for "any necessary measures, including the use of lethal force," to protect civilians, it added.

Mende said government forces had managed to recapture previously rebel-held positions as the M23 fled. But he declined to confirm reports that some 2,000 soldiers had been deployed in the fighting.

In Rwanda meanwhile, a military spokesman said two mortar bombs had been "deliberately" fired into the country from DR Congo on Monday.

The spokesman blamed the Congolese army and the UN peacekeeping force on the grounds that the bombs were fired from territory they control. The mortars caused no casualties.

The UN's new intervention brigade of some 3,000 soldiers began arriving in the region in May, heavily armed and with more power to fight renegade forces than ever before.

The troops, drawn in equal numbers from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania, are joining about 17,000 UN soldiers already deployed in the area with a limited mandate to protect civilians and themselves.

In all, about 30 armed groups are active in the region, where they have lucrative stakes in the illegal mining of diamonds, gold and coltan. These minerals are then exported around the world via neighbouring Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.

The fighting outside Goma comes after a separate rebel attack in the town of Kamango in the northernmost part of the province sent 55,000 people fleeing to neighbouring Uganda, according to the Red Cross.

Kamango was attacked and briefly occupied Thursday by a Ugandan-led rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The ADF has been relatively quiet in recent years, but one Western military source said attacks had increased in recent weeks.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 16 Jul 2013 04:24
 
Heavy Fighting on two fronts

Heavy fighting is taking place between the Congolese army and two militias in the eastern Congo, officials confirmed on Tuesday, as security in the volatile region has again deteriorated.

On one front, the army is fighting with the M23 rebels, a mostly ethnic Tutsi militia, while nearby there have been battles with the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Muslim armed force.

The Congolese government late on Monday said it had killed 120 M23 fighters in battles north of Goma, the largest city in the region, though the rebel group denied the claim, saying it did not have that many soldiers in the area.

Felix Prosper Basse, the military spokesman for Monusco, the United Nations peacekeeping force in the country, said by telephone from the Democratic Republic of Congo that he could not confirm casualty figures.

"We cannot yet ascertain the results or casualties. We observed 500 civilians were fleeing the area," Basse said. He confirmed mortars, artillery fire and rocket launchers were used in the battles with M23 which have been raging since Sunday.

The fighting with the ADF, which kicked off late last week and sent more than 65,000 refugees over the border to Uganda, appears to have quieted.

"The security situation across the border is now cool. The ADF had made a sporadic attack but were later dislodged from Kamanga. Some of the people have began going back," Ugandan army spokesman Lieutenant Nisiima Rwemijuma told dpa.

Monusco said the ADF had briefly taken villages near the border. Also, a peacekeeping unit fell into an ambush, resulting in two Nepalese soldiers suffering minor injuries.

The UN has since deployed attack helicopters, which also came under fire from light weapons on the ground.

The UN and Kampala have accused the ADF of having links to Somalia's al-Shabaab militia.

M23, which has been on the back foot this year as a result of internal splits, is believed to be backed by Rwanda.

Rwanda's mostly Tutsi government has accused the Congolese army of attacking M23 positions with the aid of Hutu militias.

In the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Hutu extremists killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days of bloodshed.

The conflict later spilled over the border into Congo, sparking a lengthy civil war, which still lingers in the east of the massive central African nation.


Source : Sapa-dpa /pk
Date : 16 Jul 2013 11:37
 
UN Fears for Safety of Refugees

It will be difficult to improve the safety and living conditions of tens of thousands of Congolese refugees who have fled into Uganda following rebel attacks, UN officials said Tuesday.

As many as 70,000 Congolese have fled into western Uganda because of attacks by a Ugandan-led rebel group and continued clashes with Congolese army forces, said Patrick McCormick, a spokesman for UNICEF, the UN children's agency.

Even before the recent influx to a transit center outside the Ugandan town of Bundibugyo, he said, Uganda already was hosting more than 210,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, nearly two-thirds of whom come from Congo.

Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, said the Uganda Red Cross had registered more than 66,000 Congolese refugees as of Sunday night, but substantially more have arrived since then.

"Moving the refugees to safer areas is now a major challenge," Edwards told reporters in Geneva. "We are worried about their current situation, as the conditions that many are living in are dire."

The refugees are dotted across an exposed, hilly area that's extremely cold at night, is short of drinking water and food, and is almost completely lacking in sanitation, he said.

He said government and UN forces are responsible for the safety of the refugees.

The region has been wracked by brutal violence, including the use of rape as a weapon of war, since Rwanda's 1994 genocide spilled conflict across the border.

On Monday, the UN mission in Congo said it is ready to use lethal force to protect civilians.


Source : Sapa-AP /sdv/jk/clh
Date : 16 Jul 2013 14:04
 
The UN's new intervention brigade of some 3,000 soldiers began arriving in the region in May, heavily armed and with more power to fight renegade forces than ever before.

The troops, drawn in equal numbers from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania, are joining about 17,000 UN soldiers already deployed in the area with a limited mandate to protect civilians and themselves.

In all, about 30 armed groups are active in the region, where they have lucrative stakes in the illegal mining of diamonds, gold and coltan. These minerals are then exported around the world via neighbouring Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.
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The UN and Kampala have accused the ADF of having links to Somalia's al-Shabaab militia.
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Radical Islam pushing South. http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthr...d-in-Yemen?p=10476329&viewfull=1#post10476329
 
UN Chief Condemns Desecrations

UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday condemned the alleged desecration of the bodies of rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by government forces, the UN spokesman said.

"The secretary general is deeply concerned about reports of alleged mistreatment of M23 detainees and desecration of corpses of M23 combatants by the Congolese armed forces," said Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky.

The UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, "has raised this matter at the highest level" with the army "and welcomes steps by the Congolese army to investigate these claims and to hold the perpetrators of these acts accountable," added the spokesman.

Images of DR Congo soldiers prodding the body of an M23 rebel fighter have been shown on the internet. The M23 has launched a new offensive on the major eastern city of Goma and scores of rebels have been killed in fighting this week.

The desecration of bodies is the latest scandal to hit the Armed Forces of the DR Congo, known under the acronym FARDC, as it battles to secure control in the east of the country.

In November after the army fled a previous M23 onslaught against Goma, soldiers were accused of raping at least 130 women and girls, some as young as six, in a two day rampage around the town of Minova in South Kivu province.

The UN launched one review of its links with the FARDC then and has started a new investigation after the latest incidents, Nesirky said.

"In line with the United Nations Human Rights Due Diligence Policy, MONUSCO has launched the process of reviewing its support to FARDC units suspected of being involved in these incidents," said the spokesman.

Ban calls on the DR Congo authorities "to bring the perpetrators of these reported acts to justice and underlines that mistreatment of detainees is a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law," added Nesirky. The worst clashes in eastern DR Congo, at the heart of a region where millions have died in conflict over the past two decades, erupted on Sunday. The army said on Monday that at least 130 people had been killed including 10 soldiers.

DR Congo has accused neighboring Rwanda of taking part in the offensive. Rwanda has in turn accused Congo and UN forces of shelling two border villages in its territory.

The fighting is seen as a threat to a peace accord brokered by Ban in February and which was signed by 11 African nations, including DR Congo and Rwanda.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 18 Jul 2013 05:10
 
4,000 Flee Fighting

A week of renewed fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled east has driven more than 4,000 people to seek refuge in the provincial capital Goma, aid workers said Saturday.

The new offensive by the M23 rebel group in mineral-rich but unstable North Kivu province has caused 4,200 people to flee their homes and take shelter in schools and churches in Goma, the provincial seat and largest city in the area, said the United Nations, citing figures from humanitarian group Premiere Urgence.

Fighting between the Congolese military and the M23, a group launched by Tutsi ex-soldiers who mutinied from the army in April last year, broke out again on July 14 after months of relative calm.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it had also received reports of hundreds of refugees flooding over the border into neighbouring Rwanda, though an exact figure could not be established.

OCHA says there were 967,000 displaced people in North Kivu province at the end of June, 90 percent of whom had fled their homes because of the fighting or fears that it would spread to their areas.

Humanitarian organisations have voiced concern that those forced from their homes, many of whom are farmers, will not be able to return in time to sow their fields for the next planting season in mid-August -- raising the risk the conflict could also turn into a food crisis.

The latest hostilities have been focused some 15 kilometres (10 miles) north of Goma.

The M23 occupied Goma for 10 days in November before withdrawing from the city under international pressure. The Congolese government and the UN have accused Rwanda and Uganda of backing the rebel group, a charge both countries deny.


Source : Sapa-AFP /dm
Date : 20 Jul 2013 17:39
 
Army, M23 Rebels Resume Fighting

Fresh fighting erupted in the Democratic Republic of Congo's restive east Monday as army helicopters attacked positions of the M23 rebels, who fired mortars in return, both sides said.

The latest clashes in the central African country's mineral-rich but conflict-torn east broke four days of relative calm, further damaging a tattered truce that had lasted from late May, when UN chief Ban Ki-moon visited the region, until July 14.

"There have been clashes between our troops and the M23," a Congolese officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"The M23 are firing mortars... and we've engaged helicopters to attack the enemy positions."

The M23, a group launched by Tutsi ex-soldiers who mutinied from the army in April 2012, confirmed the clashes and said army helicopters were attacking its positions around the towns of Kibati, just north of the flashpoint city of Goma, and Uvira, some 300 kilometres (200 miles) to the south.

"Since this morning the government has regularly been using helicopters... to bomb our positions in the Kibati and Uvira area, but without success," M23 spokesman Vianney Kazarama told AFP.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

Kazarama renewed rebel accusations that the government is getting help from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu rebel group based in DR Congo.

The Congolese army and the M23 have both accused each other of collaborating with the FDLR, many of whose members are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when Hutu extremists killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The M23 occupied Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, for 10 days in November before withdrawing from the city under international pressure.

The UN has begun deploying its first-ever offensive force to the region to fight the M23 and other armed groups. About two-thirds of the new 3,000-troop force is in place, and the UN said last week it was ready to send them into battle.


Source : Sapa-AFP /sdv/hdw/ks
Date : 22 Jul 2013 16:12
 
UN Gives Rebels 48 hours to leave DR Congo City

The United Nations on Tuesday gave M23 rebel forces 48 hours to leave the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo or face "the use of force."

A new UN intervention brigade will be used for the first time to help the DR Congo army set up a "security zone" in the city, the UN said.

A statement by the UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, gave M23 rebels in Goma until 4:00pm (2000 GMT) on Thursday "to hand in their weapon to a MONUSCO base" and join a demobilization program.

After then, "they will be considered an imminent threat of physical violence to civilians and MONUSCO will take all necessary measures to disarm them, including by the use of force in accordance with its mandate and rules of engagement."

The UN-proposed security zone includes Goma and its northern suburbs.

The M23 launched a new offensive against the DR Congo army outside Goma on July 14.

"The M23 has used indiscriminate and indirect fire, including by heavy weapons, resulting in civilian casualties," MONUSCO said.

"The M23 has also targeted UN installations with its fire. The security zone will push these indirect fire threats out of range of Goma. The security zone may be expanded and repeated elsewhere, where it is needed."

UN experts and the DR Congo government have said Rwanda has supplied troops and military aid to the M23, allegations denied by Kigali.

The United States last week called on Rwanda to end its backing of the rebel forces.


Source : Sapa-AFP /sdv/th
Date : 30 Jul 2013 19:48
 
DR Congo rebels face disarmament deadline

Rebels in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo face a deadline Thursday to lay down their arms, but they have dismissed the UN peacekeepers' ultimatum as irrelevant.

"We consider that this measure does not concern us," said M23 chief Bertrand Bisimwa. His fighters were not in the flashpoint city of Goma or on the road heading south towards Sake where much fighting has taken place recently, he said.

The United Nations on Tuesday threatened to use force against M23 fighters near Goma if they did not disarm within 48 hours.

A new UN intervention brigade will be used for the first time to help the DR Congo army set up a "security zone" around the city, the international body said.

A statement by the UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, gave the M23 until 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Thursday "to hand in their weapons to a MONUSCO base" and join a demobilisation programme.

After then, "they will be considered an imminent threat of physical violence to civilians and MONUSCO will take all necessary measures to disarm them, including by the use of force in accordance with its mandate and rules of engagement".

The UN-proposed security zone includes Goma and its northern suburbs.

The M23, a mainly Tutsi Congolese group founded in 2012, launched a new offensive against the DR Congo army outside Goma on July 14.

Diplomats say fighting in the past two weeks has left hundreds dead.

"The M23 has used indiscriminate and indirect fire, including by heavy weapons, resulting in civilian casualties," MONUSCO said.

"The M23 has also targeted UN installations with its fire. The security zone will push these indirect fire threats out of range of Goma.

"The security zone may be expanded and repeated elsewhere, where it is needed," the statement said.

The M23 is among some 30 armed groups active in North Kivu.

But analyst Fidel Bafilemba of the Enough Project -- dedicated to ending genocide and crimes against humanity -- argued that they were positioned far from the areas specified by the UN force.

"What would make a major difference would be to set a more extended security zone," he said. "But this is perhaps just a beginning.

The new, heavily armed 3,000-strong UN intervention brigade is drawn in roughly equal numbers from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania.

It joins the 17,000 peacekeepers already deployed in the area with MONUSCO, the stabilisation force.

Its mission is to carry out offensive operations, alone or with Congolese troops, against rebel fighters.

Goma is the capital of North Kivu province, which borders two of DR Congo's eastern neighbours, Rwanda and Uganda.

M23 rebels captured the city on November 20 last year, holding it for 10 days. They left only when leaders from the Great Lakes nations of central Africa promised fresh negotiations, opening the talks in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

UN experts and the DR Congo government have said Rwanda has supplied troops and military aid to the M23, allegations denied by Kigali.

The United States last week called on Rwanda to end its alleged backing of the rebel forces.

Rwanda and DR Congo are both signatories to a UN-brokered peace and security framework signed in March agreeing not to interfere in each other's affairs.

DR Congo further agreed to reform its security forces and take new efforts to spread government authority.

On Friday, the government in Kinshasa issued arrest warrants for four of M23's leaders it said had taken refuge in Rwanda.

It accused them of "war crimes, crimes against humanity including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, ethnic persecution" and several other charges.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mm
Date : 01 Aug 2013 03:49
http://www.france24.com/en/20130801-dr-congo-rebels-face-disarmament-deadline
 
UN Peacekeepers enforce Security Zone

U.N. peacekeepers began a new effort to disarm fighters in volatile eastern Congo on Thursday, setting up a zone where only the country's security forces can now carry firearms.

The move is aimed at stabilizing the eastern city of Goma and areas around it - a zone that is home to more than 1 million people who have faced waves of rebellion and attacks from armed groups in recent years.

Earlier this week, the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO issued an ultimatum before beginning the disarming effort.

"With the expiration of the 48-hour deadline, MONUSCO and Congolese armed forces will take up patrols to make sure that weapons are not being held by any unauthorized people," MONUSCO spokesman Carlos Araujo told U.N.-run Radio Okapi on Thursday.

U.N. officials have emphasized that the weapons ban will not only apply to the M23 rebel group, which has posed the greatest threat in the region. The group briefly seized control of Goma last November. Peace talks with the government have repeatedly stalled.

In New York, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the security zone "is not an offensive operation and is not targeted at any one armed group." He emphasized that the disarmament effort will protect civilians.


Source : Sapa-AP /mm
Date : 02 Aug 2013 01:05
 
UN selects unarmed surveillance drone for Congo

The United Nations announced Thursday that it has selected its first unarmed surveillance drone, an Italian-made plane that will be tried out by peacekeepers in eastern Congo, which has been engulfed in conflict for nearly two decades.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the world body's peacekeeping department chose an unmanned aerial vehicle produced by Selex ES, known as the Falco, which is "capable of carrying a range of payloads including several types of high-resolution sensors."

The U.N. Security Council gave approval in January for the trial use of unarmed drones for intelligence gathering in eastern Congo. Nesirky said deployment of the medium-altitude, medium-endurance drone is planned in the coming weeks.

In March, the Security Council authorized a new "intervention brigade" with an unprecedented mandate to carry out offensive operations to neutralize armed groups. It is part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, the world body's largest, with a capacity for nearly 20,000 military and international police.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation of 70 million people that is equal in size to Western Europe, has seen its mineral-rich east engulfed in fighting since the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda. More than 1 million Rwandan Hutus fled across the border into Congo, and Rwanda has invaded Congo to take action against Hutu militias there.

Other armed groups have also been engaged in combat, including the M23 rebel group which swept through eastern Congo in 2012 and captured the key city of Goma last November, before pulling out under international pressure. The M23, whose movement began in April 2012 when hundreds of troops defected from the Congolese armed forces, is an incarnation of a group of Congolese Tutsi set up to fight the Rwandan Hutu rebels in Congo.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous has said the unmanned aerial vehicles will for the first time give the United Nations state-of-the-art 21st century technology.

Nesirky said it will allow U.N. peacekeepers, especially in eastern Congo, "to monitor the movements of armed groups and protect the civilian population more efficiently."

If the trial in Congo is successful, U.N. officials have said that drones are likely to be used in other peacekeeping missions, possibly including Ivory Coast and South Sudan.

According to its website, Selex ES has a workforce of about 17,700, total revenues in excess of ?3.5 billion. In addition to major operations in Italy and the U.K., it also operates in the United States, Germany, Turkey, Romania, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and India.


Source : Sapa-AP /ma
Date : 01 Aug 2013 22:49
 
UN Peacekeeper killed in Eastern Congo

United Nations forces and the Congolese army attacked rebel positions with helicopter gunships, armored personnel carriers and a phalanx of ground troops Wednesday, ramping up the U.N.'s engagement in the latest rebellion to roil this country's tormented east.

The fighting was some of the fiercest in the week since the newly created U.N. intervention brigade went on the offensive, and one Tanzanian peacekeeper was killed after the rebels aimed artillery fire at their position, the U.N. said in a statement. Seven other troops were also wounded, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.

"I am outraged by today's killing of a United Nations peacekeeper from Tanzania by the M23," said Martin Kobler, the special representative of the secretary-general in Congo, who heads the peacekeeping mission. "He sacrificed his life to protect civilians in Goma."

The fighting is taking place nine miles (15 kilometers) from the provincial capital of Goma, a city home to nearly 1 million people that was briefly captured by the M23 rebels late last year.

The U.N. involvement in the latest flare-up of violence is in sharp contrast to November, when the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO, stood by as the rebels overtook Goma because their mandate was only to protect civilians.

The stepped-up U.N. intervention brigade, created by the Security Council in March, is authorized to take the offensive against the rebels.

"It's already changing the equation. For now, I would shy away from calling it a game changer. It's certainly unprecedented not only for Congo, but for peacekeeping itself and the U.N. at large," said Timo Mueller, a Goma-based researcher with the Enough Project, an advocacy group active in eastern Congo.

Martin Nesirky, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said in a statement that Ban condemned the killing of the Tanzanian and violence against U.N. peacekeepers generally.

"The Secretary-General deplores in the strongest terms the killing and wounding of UN peacekeepers," the statement reads.

Even as forces pounded the rebels, U.N. officials continued to send mixed messages about the extent of their involvement, repeatedly saying they were merely "backing" or "supporting" the Congolese military, rather than leading the offensive themselves.

"The main engagement is by the (Congolese) forces," said Siphiwe Dlamini, a spokesman for the South African military, which contributed troops to the brigade. "We are retaliating and going on the offensive."

Lt. Col. Felix Basse, the military spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission, also emphasized that U.N. forces were fighting alongside the Congolese army.

However, the president of the M23 rebel movement, Bertrand Bisimwa, who spoke by telephone, said the U.N.'s intervention brigade was on the frontline of Wednesday's fighting.

"It was the U.N. that was shooting directly at us, from their helicopters. It's the Tanzanian and South African (United Nations) troops that are on the frontline. It's them that we see first," he said.

As the U.N. mission takes its strongest steps yet to protect Congolese civilians, observers note the intervention brigade faces high expectations. It is already facing backlash from residents who say their heightened efforts still aren't enough to protect civilians from an onslaught of mortar fire.

Last weekend, scores of Goma residents took to the streets in anger after a barrage of mortar shells rained down on residential neighborhoods and killed several civilians. A U.N. car was set ablaze, and in the melee two protesters were killed.

"Given this outburst of frustration during these demonstrations, MONUSCO might feel pressured to take on M23 and be sucked into an active conflict, into active warfare," Mueller said. "There might be a momentum building up where MONUSCO has to prove its legitimacy and its effectiveness and has to show the population that it's actually doing something."

In a recent open letter, the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, also expressed concern about the mission's simultaneous mandate to "aid, protect and fight" in Congo. The U.N. vigorously defended its mandate, saying it could not "fold our arms and allow armed groups to kill the population."

In addition to seven U.N. troops wounded Wednesday, three others already have sustained injuries since the U.N. brigade began directly engaging rebels last week. One South African and two Tanzanians were hit by shrapnel Saturday, South Africa's military said in a statement Wednesday.

Angelo Izama, a Uganda-based analyst who runs a regional security think tank called Fanaka Kwawote, cautions though that failure to unseat the M23 from their current strongholds overlooking Goma would be a psychological blow to the Congolese military and its U.N. allies.

He said it was highly unlikely that the U.N. brigade would sustain the offensive if more and more of its troops were killed or wounded in combat.

"If they come under sustained attack, the U.N. will have no appetite for war," he said. "They will call time out."


Source : Sapa-AP /kn
Date : 29 Aug 2013 05:55
 
No SA Soldiers killed in the DRC: SANDF

No South African soldiers have been killed or seriously injured in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) said on Wednesday.

Reports that SANDF troops were injured or killed should be dismissed as propaganda, Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga said in a statement.

"This is just mere propaganda and psychological warfare from the rebel forces who want to portray their so called success against the DRC government troops."

Mabanga said there were clashes between the M23 rebels and the armed forces of the DRC on Saturday.

"During these clashes it happened that a mortar bomb fell close to the base where the SANDF members and Tanzanian People's Defence Force (TPDF) members, part of the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade (FIB), is located.

"The FIB members suffered minor injuries from shrapnel or splinters from the bombs causing, minor injuries to one SANDF member and two TPDF members," he said.

Mabanga said the SANDF intended holding a media briefing to update the public about its participation in the FIB.

Last week, President Jacob Zuma informed Parliament that 1345 soldiers had been deployed to the DRC.

The SA National Defence Union (Sandu) said it wished the injured a speedy recovery.

"To those fighting M23 rebels, Godspeed and good luck, your bravery is an inspiration to us all," said secretary Pikkie Greeff

He said soldiers had raised concerns that they were promised Gripens and Rooivalks when they left, but that the helicopters had not arrived in the DRC.


Source : Sapa /mm/nsm/cls
Date : 28 Aug 2013 23:31
 
SA snipers wreak havoc

A second South African soldier has been injured in heavy fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and South African Special Forces snipers have killed at least six senior rebel officers.

Fighting has increased since clashes at the weekend in which a South African soldier, along with three Tanzanian troops, was slightly injured in an M23 mortar attack.

More than 1000 soldiers from 6 SA Infantry Battalion, based in Eastern Cape, are part of the UN's 3000-strong intervention brigade, which is backing a DRC government forces' assault on rebel positions.

The brigade has an aggressive mandate and the power to pursue, engage and disarm the M23 rebels, who are heavily armed and backed by tanks. It is believed that their arms and other munitions are being supplied by Rwanda, a claim that country vehemently denies.

A South African soldier said yesterday that teams of Special Forces members had been engaging the rebels.

"The engagements occurred as helicopters attacked M23 supply lines between Goma and Rwanda. Our snipers were specifically targeting rebel command-and-control posts. It appears from information coming from the front that the officers were busy planning attacks on DRC and UN bases," he said.

The national secretary of the SA National Defence Union, Pikkie Greeff, confirmed the involvement of snipers: "Our sources in Goma have revealed that at the time of attacks [on M23 supply lines] by UN Ukranian Mi24 attack helicopters, snipers from our Special Forces were engaging the rebels. They have killed a number of rebels, with reports of one being shot from a distance of 2.2km."

He said at least one South African soldier was shot in the leg.

"Information is sketchy. The soldier is in a stable condition and was evacuated to hospital."

Greeff said the fighting was in an area known as Kigali Towers - 15km from the North Kivu provincial capital, Goma - where M23 rebels had dug in.

"[Our information is] that within the next two weeks SA Air Force Rooivalk attack helicopters are to be deployed to join the clashes . they will provide much-needed fire power to be used to drive the rebels from their positions," he said.

M23 president Bertrand Bisimwa said yesterday: "There was a big offensive this morning . It was the UN that was shooting at us, from their helicopters. It's the Tanzanian and South African troops that are on the frontline. It's them we see first."

The intervention brigade was created after the rebels briefly held Goma late last year. Then UN peacekeeping forces stood by and did nothing because they were authorised only to protect civilians.

SANDF spokesman Brigadier-General Xolani Mabanga confirmed that a South African soldier had been slightly injured. - Additional reporting by Sapa-AP

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2013/08/29/sa-snipers-wreak-havoc?fb_action_ids=10151891412163338&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%2210151891412163338%22%3A510550635692558}&action_type_map={%2210151891412163338%22%3A%22og.recommends%22}&action_ref_map=[]
 
snipers from our Special Forces were engaging the rebels. They have killed a number of rebels, with reports of one being shot from a distance of 2.2km."
Click to expand...

WoW. Proudly SAfrican
 
"...snipers from our Special Forces were engaging the rebels. They have killed a number of rebels, with reports of one being shot from a distance of 2.2km."

I call seriaaas BS on that one.
 
UN seeks more artillery for the Congo

The United Nations has requested South African authorities to send additional artillery to the DRC, an official said on Friday.

SA National Defence Force joint operations chief Lt-Gen Derrick Mgwebi said the world body had yet to pay for the further deployments.

"They have requested a battalion from us and we have given them [the soldiers]. We [also] have three Oryx helicopters already on the ground," he told reporters in Pretoria.

"Then they have also asked us for additional helicopters and we said 'we will give you' but there must be something signed to that effect.

"When you give them, it speaks to the issues of reimbursement. We said 'we give you and you reimburse the country'."

Mgwebi said the UN was yet to sign the required documents for the additional weaponry to be sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We have said to them we are ready and this is what it is going to mean to you [financially] as the UN, the rates."

"The ball is in their court, not in South Africa's," said Mgwebi.

Last week, President Jacob Zuma informed Parliament that 1345 soldiers had been deployed to the DRC as part of the UN Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) in the eastern DRC.

The deployment of the FIB followed the passing of a UN resolution in March authorising a force to intervene in cases where negative forces threatened people's lives and property in the east of the DRC.

Zuma said on Thursday that no South African soldiers had been critically wounded in clashes with rebels in the DRC.

"Three of our soldiers have been injured in the conflict since the weekend, largely from shrapnel wounds. None have been seriously wounded," Zuma told reporters at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

"Our soldiers are well-trained and are ready for their responsibilities towards building a better and more peaceful Africa. South Africa has deployed troops in fulfilment of our international obligations towards the United Nations," he said.


Source : Sapa /jm/fg/jk
Date : 30 Aug 2013 10:51
 
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