DR Of Congo troops and scores of Ugnadan rebels killed in sweep

A United Nations peacekeeper from India, soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and leaders of a Ugandan rebel movement were among the scores of people killed as the Congolese
troops took back nine localities in the troubled eastern region of the
country, the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC) reported on 27 December.

The Indian peacekeeper who died on 25 December was one of 1,000 MONUC
forces supporting about 4,000 national Armed Forces of DRC (FARDC) troops,
who have been conducting operations against armed rebel groups so as to
restore the authority of the Congolese State. Another four peacekeepers
were wounded, with one of the four having been seriously wounded.

The operation, called “Ituri Eden,†began north of the Ituri district's capital of Bunia against the armed group headed by Peter Karim Udaga, a
former leader of the predominantly ethnic Lendu militia, the Nationalist
and Integrationist Front (FNI), according to MONUC.

Some 1,500 FARDC soldiers, supported by 300 Nepalese peacekeepers, have
been involved in the operation, pushing forces loyal to Karim in a
northeasterly direction towards the Ugandan border. Several of Karima's
followers were killed in firefights, the town of Nioka was cleared of armed
former militiamen, and two of Karim’s bodyguards were captured, in addition
to 17 weapons and a truck loaded with precious woods, the mission said.

The FARDC casualties totalled 16 wounded and six dead, while the armed
rebel groups were believed to have sustained around 90 casualties.