KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- Using special forces troops and attack helicopters, U.N. peacekeepers have launched an operation to rid eastern Congo of armed militia, a United Nations spokesman said Tuesday.
Operation Falcon Sweep began Monday in the forest-covered mountains of South Kivu province, a dense region controlled by several militia accused of raping, killing and kidnapping hundreds of residents every month, said U.N. military spokesman Thierry Provendier. "The aim is to secure the civilian population in this area," said Provendier. "If these armed groups refuse to leave, we will use force to chase them out." Provendier declined to estimate how long it would take peacekeepers to drive out the militia. | What, no timetable? It's a quagmire! |
Small units of Guatemalan special forces and Congolese troops are meeting with militia commanders, telling them to relinquish control of the area and leave, said Provendier. Provendier said any militia holdouts would face elite soldiers and attack helicopters. Operation Falcon Sweep will continue until all armed groups are out of the area, Provendier said.
Last month, the U.N. general in charge of peacekeepers in eastern Congo said the operation had been planned for months, with Pakistani and Guatemalan peacekeepers carefully training and planning how to maneuver in the dense forests, where ambushes by militia are expected. Much of the mountainous region is controlled by about Rwandan Hutu rebels from the group Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, who fled into eastern Congo after the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda. Elements of Mayi-Mayi and Rasta militias are also being targeted by peacekeepers. In May, Rasta militiamen killed and mutilated 18 people. In March, Hutu rebel leader Ignace Murwanashyaka said his 8,000 troops -- many of whom admit killing in Rwanda's genocide -- were ready to disarm and return to Rwanda after a decade living in the bush.
The United Nations has volunteered to help lead the repatriation, but the process has been slow. Rebels say they fear being imprisoned or killed upon returning, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been reluctant to give guarantees of amnesty. Rwandan Hutu rebels have been a massive stumbling block in the path of peace in Congo. Rwanda invaded Congo twice, in 1996 and 1998, to drive out the rebels, who they claim were planning another slaughter across the border in Rwanda. The 1998 invasion sparked a five-year war that killed nearly 4 million people, mostly from starvation and disease, aid groups say. 
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