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KINSHASA, Mar 6 (Reuters) UN troops killed several militia fighters during heavy clashes in eastern Congo after a joint operation with the government army was aborted by a mutiny among its soldiers, the world body said.

UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno flew into Democratic Republic of Congo for an unprecedented 10-day visit to the UN's biggest peace force and called for unity and cooperation from the Congolese to rebuild their country.

UN blue helmets are battling an array of local and foreign militias as well as coping with chaos in the Congolese army, which it is meant to be helping to restore order ahead of polls.

Cooperation with the army unravelled during an operation against an eastern militia last week when Congolese commandos mutinied and ransacked a U.N. base, forcing the mission to be abandoned.

UN military spokesman Major Hans-Jakob Reichen said even after calling off the operation peacekeepers came under attack from militia fighters yesterday, triggering a firefight involving helicopter gunships in which several attackers died.

Last week's mutiny, in which UN sources say rebellious troops pointed guns in peacekeepers' faces and UN helicopters fired rockets at the mutineers, highlighted the obstacles facing the 17,000-strong UN force, known by its French acronym MONUC.

MONUC is supporting the Congolese army, forged from various factions which fought in the 1998-2003 war, in a mission to restore order across a chaotic country the size of Western Europe in time for elections tentatively slated for June 18.

But political preparations are dragging, the militia are proving hard to defeat and human rights organisations say even where military operations are successful, government troops are often just as prone to rape, loot and kill civilians.

''Immense progress has been accomplished, but that shouldn't let us become complacent. A lot remains to be done,'' Guehenno said after arriving in Kinshasa.

SECURITY REVIEW European Union defence ministers met in Austria on Monday to discuss sending EU troops to help with election security.

Guehenno will review security for the polls -- the first free national elections for 40 years -- officials said.

Other officials said Guehenno's trip would examine what Congo's peacekeeping requirements would be after elections, given that UN Security Council members were anxious not to foot MONUC's $1 billion annual bill any longer than necessary.

''He is coming to help work on a post-electoral strategy, to work out how the mission will operate after elections. But there are also concerns about how the whole thing is going to hold together until these elections,'' said a UN official.

President Joseph Kabila has delayed promulgating an electoral law which the elections commission says is necessary to finalise a timetable for the polls, casting further doubt on whether the June 18 election date will hold.

REUTERS VJ RAI0353

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