United Nations Radio

Rwandan soldiers have entered the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to pursue Rwandan Hutu militias.

peacekeeping in the DRC

The United Nations Mission in the Congo, known as MONUC, confirmed that it has seen between 1,500 and 2,000 Rwandan troops heading to the town of Rutshuru.

MONUC says the operation is part of the agreement between the Congolese and Rwandan governments to jointly confront the FDLR, or the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda.

FDLR is made up of Rwandan Hutus who participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and are now based in eastern Congo.

MONUC military spokesman Jean Paul Dietrich says the UN mission is concerned about the security of the civilian population in the area.

"That's why we have addressed all the parties to be careful and to care about the civilian population which has already suffered enough from all those conflicts in the area. And definitely you cannot plan any military operation without affecting the civilian population but it has to be done in a very smooth way and MONUC will do everything, especially around IDP camps to protect those installations."

According to Jean Paul Dietrich, there are approximately 7,000 FDLR members and their families in the North and South Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Gerry Adams, United Nations Radio

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