UN forces stall rebel advance on east Congo city

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

KINSHASA, Nov 27 (Reuters) UN peacekeepers in Congo used a helicopter gunship today to block an advance against the eastern city of Goma by forces loyal to a renegade general, a UN officer said.

Major Ajay Dalal, spokesman for Indian peacekeepers in North Kivu province of Democratic Republic of Congo, said the UN forces engaged the soldiers of General Laurent Nkunda who seized another eastern town, Sake, yesterday.

Dalal told Reuters that at 0900 hrs IST soldiers from the former Congolese army's 81st and 83rd Brigades, who have refused to join a new integrated national army, headed east towards Goma.

Congolese government forces fled their positions and UN troops in the rebels' path were threatened.

''The attack helicopter was called for and fired on these elements. The advance towards Goma has been stalled,'' Dalal said.

He added UN soldiers were also fighting another group of Nkunda's forces outside Sake, which the rebels took yesterday.

The huge central African country has held its first free elections in over 40 years, but militia fighting goes on in the east and a former rebel chief is contesting his defeat in last month's presidential vote.

The UN has its biggest peace force, known as MONUC, in Congo overseeing a peace process that ended a 1998-2003 war.

The conflict triggered a humanitarian disaster that has killed some 4 million people and humanitarian workers say war-related violence, hunger and disease kill 1,200 every day.

REUTERS PB KN1505

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X