Congo militia hold 7 Nepalese UN soldiers -sources

KINSHASA, May 29 (Reuters) Seven Nepalese UN peacekeepers have been captured in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by militia fighters who are demanding a ransom for their release, UN and Congolese sources said today.

The soldiers were seized during a UN military operation in Congo's violence-prone Ituri district on Sunday in which one other peacekeeper from Nepal was killed and three wounded.

The incident showed that the 17,000-strong UN peacekeepingv mission in Congo -- the biggest in the world -- was still struggling to pacify parts of the vast central African country ahead of historic elections scheduled to be held on July 30.

It came as the United Nations celebrated Peacekeeping Day today to mark the efforts of its blue-helmeted peacekeepers in trouble spots across the globe.

''We do have seven soldiers who are unaccounted for and we are continuing our efforts on the ground to try and determine their fate,'' said Kemal Saiki, spokesman for the UN mission in Congo.

UN and Congolese sources, who asked not to be named, said the missing Nepalese were being held by militia fighters in Ituri and U.N. officials were establishing contact with their captors to try to negotiate their release.

''We understand these people have been taken and there are talks going on,'' a UN source told Reuters.

A Congolese source who has contacts with the rebels said the missing Nepalese were being held by fighters led by militia chief Peter Karim.

''Peter Karim is holding these men and he is demanding money for their release. We are hearing of a figure of 20,000 dollars for each peacekeeper,'' the source told Reuters.

CONTACT LOST Saiki said contact was lost with the Nepalese soldiers while their unit was involved in an operation targeting part of the Revolutionary Movement of Congo (MRC), a loose alliance of Ituri militia fighters.

The ''cordon and search'' mission was taking place in Dhera, 100 km (60 miles) north of the main regional town of Bunia.

Saiki said UN troops found the body of one Nepalese peacekeeper who was killed in action during the operation. Three others were wounded and were being treated in hospital while seven were missing.

UN peacekeepers have stepped up their offensive against militia groups in eastern Congo this year, trying to secure the region ahead of long-awaited presidential and legislative elections set for July 30, the first of their kind in Congo for four decades.

But they have found it tough going.

Eight Guatemalan UN peacekeepers were killed and five were wounded in January during a botched hunt for a Ugandan rebel leader in eastern Congo.

The United Nations has still not made public its final report on exactly what happened in that incident.

The upcoming elections are meant to draw a line under Congo's devastating five-year war, which triggered a humanitarian crisis that has killed 4 million people since it first began in 1998.

The conflict was officially declared over in 2003 but fighting by rebels and renegade militia, especially in the east, has continued in many parts of the country, which is the size of western Europe.

REUTERS SHB PM1755