UN troops launch operations against rebels along Congo's border with Rwanda

United Nations peacekeeping troops in Democratic Republic of Congo have launched operations against a Rwandan Hutu rebel militia operating along Congo’s border with Rwanda, the UN commander said on Tuesday.
Defeating Rwandan FDLR insurgents, who have long been used as a pretext for intervention in Congo by neighbouring Rwanda, is seen as the next step in ending decades of conflict along the veteran foes’ shared border, weeks after the Congolese Tutsi-led M23 rebels were defeated.
General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz said on UN-backed Radio Okapi on Tuesday that his troops would attack the FDLR rebel forces in a bid to secure a road between the eastern Congolese towns of Kitchanga and Pinga.
“Everyone knows that the presence of armed groups along the border creates problems with the neighbouring states,” he said.
In November, UN soldiers in a newly formed intervention brigade with a robust mandate supported the Congolese army with artillery and attack helicopters in defeating the M23 rebellion, the most serious in Congo in the last decade.