KINSHASA, Congo - Assailants killed eight Guatemalan peacekeepers in Congo in a gunbattle Monday near the troubled country's border with Sudan, U.N. officials said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Another 14 Guatemalans were wounded in the shootout in Garamba National Park and flown to a hospital in the regional capital, Bunia, said Kemal Saiki, a U.N. spokesman.
Saiki had no information on the attackers' identities, but said the U.N. troops were conducting an operation to sweep for Lord's Resistance Army rebels believed to be in the area.
The Ugandan rebels operate mostly from bases in southern Sudan, near the area where the borders of Congo, Uganda and Sudan intersect. But some fighters fled to eastern Congo late last year following pressure from Ugandan troops who have been permitted by Sudanese authorities to pursue them to their rear bases.
The incident was the second-worst blow to the 15,000-member peacekeeping mission since it began in 1999.
On Feb. 25, 2005, ethnic Lendu militiamen in the same region where Sunday's clash took place killed nine U.N. Bangladeshi troops in the worst single loss suffered by the world body during its Congo mission. The U.N. responded with a massive operation they said left 75 militiamen dead.
Monday's gunfight broke out around dawn and lasted for about four hours until a helicopter-borne Nepalese contingent arrived in support, said U.N. spokeswoman Jennifer Bakody by telephone from Bunia, in eastern Congo.
There was no information on casualties among the attackers.
The Lord's Resistance Army is known for abducting more than 30,000 children, forcing them to become fighters, porters or concubines. The group, which has killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 1 million to flee their homes, wants Uganda to be governed by the Ten Commandments.
Some 105 Guatemalans are serving in the U.N. force, deployed to provide security in Congo and monitor a 2002 peace deal.
Thousands of militiamen still roam the province of Ituri in northeastern Congo, where clashes between ethnic Lendu and Hema militia have killed more than 50,000 people since 1999 in a conflict that became a bloody spin-off of Congo's larger 1998-2002 war.
Garamba National Park is located in a lawless region near Congo's northeastern border with Sudan. The park is home to a handful of endangered white rhinos that have been plagued by poachers.
In separate fighting Sunday, renegade former army soldiers in Congo ambushed U.N. peacekeepers with mortars in a hilltop banana plantation, sparking a fighting that left four of the attackers dead, U.N. officials said.
The peacekeepers were conducting an operation to flush the militants out of territory they captured during a slew of raids this week near Rwindi, said U.N. military spokesman Mayank Awasthi.
Rwindi is about 90 miles north of the regional capital, Goma, near the Rwandan border.
The Ituri conflict was a bloody spin-off of Congo's larger five-year war that involved six African armies and killed nearly 4 million people, mostly through war-induced starvation and disease.
Congo's shaky transitional government is trying to shepherd peace throughout the enormous country, but the long arm of the law has been slow to reach the volatile east.
The first presidential elections in decades are expected this year in the vast nation, when Congolese will choose a new government to replace a postwar transitional administration.
http://tinyurl.com/7kfje
Condolenses to the families who have lost love ones.
ADVERTISEMENT
Another 14 Guatemalans were wounded in the shootout in Garamba National Park and flown to a hospital in the regional capital, Bunia, said Kemal Saiki, a U.N. spokesman.
Saiki had no information on the attackers' identities, but said the U.N. troops were conducting an operation to sweep for Lord's Resistance Army rebels believed to be in the area.
The Ugandan rebels operate mostly from bases in southern Sudan, near the area where the borders of Congo, Uganda and Sudan intersect. But some fighters fled to eastern Congo late last year following pressure from Ugandan troops who have been permitted by Sudanese authorities to pursue them to their rear bases.
The incident was the second-worst blow to the 15,000-member peacekeeping mission since it began in 1999.
On Feb. 25, 2005, ethnic Lendu militiamen in the same region where Sunday's clash took place killed nine U.N. Bangladeshi troops in the worst single loss suffered by the world body during its Congo mission. The U.N. responded with a massive operation they said left 75 militiamen dead.
Monday's gunfight broke out around dawn and lasted for about four hours until a helicopter-borne Nepalese contingent arrived in support, said U.N. spokeswoman Jennifer Bakody by telephone from Bunia, in eastern Congo.
There was no information on casualties among the attackers.
The Lord's Resistance Army is known for abducting more than 30,000 children, forcing them to become fighters, porters or concubines. The group, which has killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 1 million to flee their homes, wants Uganda to be governed by the Ten Commandments.
Some 105 Guatemalans are serving in the U.N. force, deployed to provide security in Congo and monitor a 2002 peace deal.
Thousands of militiamen still roam the province of Ituri in northeastern Congo, where clashes between ethnic Lendu and Hema militia have killed more than 50,000 people since 1999 in a conflict that became a bloody spin-off of Congo's larger 1998-2002 war.
Garamba National Park is located in a lawless region near Congo's northeastern border with Sudan. The park is home to a handful of endangered white rhinos that have been plagued by poachers.
In separate fighting Sunday, renegade former army soldiers in Congo ambushed U.N. peacekeepers with mortars in a hilltop banana plantation, sparking a fighting that left four of the attackers dead, U.N. officials said.
The peacekeepers were conducting an operation to flush the militants out of territory they captured during a slew of raids this week near Rwindi, said U.N. military spokesman Mayank Awasthi.
Rwindi is about 90 miles north of the regional capital, Goma, near the Rwandan border.
The Ituri conflict was a bloody spin-off of Congo's larger five-year war that involved six African armies and killed nearly 4 million people, mostly through war-induced starvation and disease.
Congo's shaky transitional government is trying to shepherd peace throughout the enormous country, but the long arm of the law has been slow to reach the volatile east.
The first presidential elections in decades are expected this year in the vast nation, when Congolese will choose a new government to replace a postwar transitional administration.
http://tinyurl.com/7kfje
Condolenses to the families who have lost love ones.
Tinyurl.com, remember? :wink: