KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, April 13 (UPI) -- Some 850 government and U.N. soldiers mounted an offensive against rebel Rwandan militias in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Thursday.
Maj. Hans Reichen, a spokesman for the U.N. Mission in Congo, told the BBC that small groups of Rwandan Hutu rebels were operating in the province of North Kivu and moving around in small groups.
The push involves 750 Congolese soldiers and 100 U.N. troops, and came as a result in a spike in looting and violence in the area, the report said.
The country formerly known as Zaire has the largest U.N. peacekeeping force in the world, with some 17,000 troops charged with ensuring scheduled elections in June proceed smoothly. It will be the first time elections have been held in 40 years, the report said.
Rwandan Hutu rebels came to the country to escape prosecution following the genocide against Rwanda's Tutsi minority and moderate Hutus in 1994.
