A new offensive dubbed 'Amani Leo' has been planned by the Congolese army against the Hutu rebels in eastern Congo with the help of UN forces, an army officer says.
Amani Leo, or Peace Now in Swahili, is aimed at completing an operation which was launched in February 2009. the operation has already killed hundreds of civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, said Army Major Sylvain Ekenge, AFP reported.
Ekenge, a spokesman for the Congolese military in Nord-Kivu province, said the aim was to "completely eradicate" the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in a three-month campaign beginning in January.
He claimed that in the previous offensive, government troops destroyed all FDLR bases in Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu provinces, killing 1,472 of the rebels. A further 2,029 surrendered or were captured and sent back to Rwanda by the UN mission in DR Congo, he added.
Ekenge said the Mission of the United Nations Organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), which gave logistical support to the Congolese army last year, would be fighting alongside it in the upcoming offensive.
In particular, MONUC would be deploying combat helicopters against the rebels, he said.
MONUC'S military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, refused to comment Friday on Ekenge's statement.
Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115172§ionid=351020506.
Amani Leo, or Peace Now in Swahili, is aimed at completing an operation which was launched in February 2009. the operation has already killed hundreds of civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, said Army Major Sylvain Ekenge, AFP reported.
Ekenge, a spokesman for the Congolese military in Nord-Kivu province, said the aim was to "completely eradicate" the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in a three-month campaign beginning in January.
He claimed that in the previous offensive, government troops destroyed all FDLR bases in Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu provinces, killing 1,472 of the rebels. A further 2,029 surrendered or were captured and sent back to Rwanda by the UN mission in DR Congo, he added.
Ekenge said the Mission of the United Nations Organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), which gave logistical support to the Congolese army last year, would be fighting alongside it in the upcoming offensive.
In particular, MONUC would be deploying combat helicopters against the rebels, he said.
MONUC'S military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, refused to comment Friday on Ekenge's statement.
Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115172§ionid=351020506.
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