DRC army soldiers stand guard during a military operation to strike M23 positions close to Rutshuru in eastern North Kivu province
KINSHASA, May 23 (NNN-Xinhua) — A top UN envoy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) condemned late Sunday the attacks by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels against the Congolese army and the UN peacekeepers in the country earlier in the day.
Bintou Keita, also head of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), accused the M23 rebels of deliberately targeting MONUSCO peacekeepers stationed in the Shangi area of the northeastern North Kivu province early Sunday, hours after attacking positions of the armed forces of the DRC.
The chief said in a statement that a joint operation by the DRC armed forces and the MONUSCO was then launched to “liberate the area from M23 combatants, with the priority objective of protecting civilians and in compliance with the due diligence policy on the prevention of human rights violations.”
Early Sunday, intense fighting resumed between the DRC armed forces and the M23 in the Rutshuru territory in the province, said Guillaume Ndjike Kaiko, DRC forces spokesperson in the region.
The rebel group announced in early April its withdrawal from the villages it had taken earlier in the Rutshuru territory.
The group consists of former rebels of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and got its name from the March 23, 2009 agreement between the CNDP and the Congolese government.
M23 leaders have accused the government of failing to respect the agreement. — NNN-XINHUA
