You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Africa: Subsaharan
U.N. Troops Launch Offensive in East Congo
2005-03-11
Hundreds of United Nations troops launched a major offensive in northeast Congo on Friday to hunt down militiamen who killed nine U.N. Bangladeshi peacekeepers last month, a U.N. military source said. "We are conducting a cordon-and-search operation as well as trying to apprehend the perpetrators of the killing of the Bangladeshis," the source said. The operation northeast of the town of Bunia in the Ituri district involved around 500 peacekeepers and started at around 7:30 a.m. local time (12:30 a.m. EST), the source said. Witnesses said rotations of U.N. helicopter gunships had been leaving Bunia airport throughout the morning.

The United Nations has been criticized in the past for being ineffective in reining in marauding militias in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo, but has said it plans to step up operations to dismantle militia training camps in the region. U.N. soldiers killed at least 50 militiamen in a fierce gunbattle involving helicopter gunships earlier this month, five days after the Bangladeshi soldiers were killed in an ambush in lawless Ituri.
Killing thousands of civilians doesn't rate a yawn, kill a few UN troops and they get all bent out of shape.
Posted by:Steve

#6  How about droping "launch" from the title?
Posted by: gromgorru   2005-03-11 7:37:00 PM  

#5  Dude! That's my truck! Try not to dent the hood.

I've been looking for the 3rd World Tech Assualt Kit, but sadly, the after market supply chain on this side of the pond is lacking.
Posted by: Psycho Hillbilly   2005-03-11 2:13:21 PM  

#4  BUNIA, Congo (Reuters) - Hundreds of United Nations troops backed by helicopter gunships swooped into a village in northeast Congo on Friday but failed to find militia fighters blamed for killing nine peacekeepers, officials said. The operation, launched just before dawn at Penie, around 16 miles northeast of the region's main city of Bunia, had aimed to hunt down the killers of the nine Bangladeshi U.N. soldiers who died in an ambush last month, U.N. sources said. "We had names of some people we wanted to arrest in connection with the killings of the Bangladeshis. They were supposed to be in this village but we did not arrest any," said one U.N.
"(The operation) is a failure from the point of view that they did not arrest any militia but in a sense it was a success because word will get around that the U.N. mission is serious," said a second U.N. military source.

Once more the UN mindset becomes clear; words are more important than deeds.
Posted by: Steve   2005-03-11 12:49:10 PM  

#3  Kofi has 10,000 troops and many helicopter gunships in the DRC, but he spent the week trying to define "terrorism". He is responsible for the killing of 50 malitiamen who attacked his foreign helicopter gunships in their homeland. I certainly hope that the 500 troops and helicopter gunships in this operation "respect human rights and the rule of law".
Posted by: Tom   2005-03-11 11:13:10 AM  

#2  Must be running out of underage girls....
Posted by: CrazyFool   2005-03-11 9:32:43 AM  

#1  wow, who knew they could fight?
Posted by: 2b   2005-03-11 9:26:31 AM  

00:00