Seven people have died as United Nations led troops battle with militia in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with helicopter gunships. The Lendu militia group are refusing to be integrated into the Congolese army in line with a 2002 peace deal, a UN spokesman in the area said. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has authorised individual sanctions on leaders of foreign armed groups there. The east has been out of the control of central government for many years. Despite the end the conflict, bands of militia groups still terrorise civilians and use the rich minerals and timber of the region to finance their operations. Neighbouring countries were drawn into DR Congo's brutal five-year war in which 3m people were killed. Among the rebel groups targeted by the sanctions are those formed by ethnic Hutu extremists, who fled to DR Congo after the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
Earlier this month, the UN says the Lendu militia attacked a Congolese army post, as well as a convoy transporting material for the referendum. "[The UN] sent reinforcements to the area and during the clashes that followed, one soldier and six militiamen were killed," UN spokesman Major Hans-Jakob Reichen told AFP news agency. The operation, involving some 1,000 Congolese troops and more than 200 UN soldiers, is continuing north of Bunia, near the Ugandan border.
| I believe the UN troops in this area were Pakistani and Bangladeshi, unless they've rotated out. |
| Send in the mighty Uruguayans! |
This week, early results indicate that Congolese overwhelmingly backed a new post-war constitution in a referendum, which will pave the way to next year's polls.