UN peacekeepers Monday joined the government troops of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a mopping up operation against Rwandan rebels holed up in the Virunga National Park in east DRC, the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC announced.

This is the first large-scale joint military operation launched by UN peacekeepers and DRC government troops against the Rwandan Hutu rebels in North Kivu Province.

In August, the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda issued an ultimatum demanding all foreign armed groups pull out of eastern Congo by Sept. 30. The DRC govenrment troops and UN peacekeepers had launched a similar operation in the South Kivu province in July.

Colonel Mayank Awasthi, the UN military spokesman in North Kivu province, said the current operation involving 2,000 Congolese troops and 500 UN peacekeepers will last two weeks and is aimed at flushing out as many as 5,000 Rwandan rebels from the hilly forests of Virunga National Park.

The main job of the UN troops is to provide support for the Congolese troops by securing the lush forests, Awasthi said, adding that UN troops can fire only they are attacked or if a civilian population is under threat.

He said four MI-17 transport helicopters and three MI-25 attack helicopters were providing cover for UN troops in the operation.

Before the operation began, the Congolese troops had issued an ultimatum urging the armed Rwandan rebels to leave Virunga National Park, a World Heritage Site, within a week.

In the first day of the operation, the joint troops destroyed five insurgent camps and captured 12 Rwandan rebels.

The 15,000-strong Rwandan rebel force has been holed up in North and South Kivu provinces in the eastern DRC since 1994. They not only pose a threat to the security of Rwanda, but also extort and harass the locals.

Source: Xinhua