Congo rebels ready to fight new UN forces
M23 insurgents are training for battles with 3,000-strong brigade arriving soon
Rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have said they are prepared to respond to any attack by the United Nations' first offensive force.
In March, the UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the UN mission in the Congo (Monusco) and approved the creation of a 3,000-strong "intervention brigade".
The force, which will include troops from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi, will be equipped with an artillery unit and attack helicopters, and is intended to neutralise the year-long M23 rebellion and other armed groups in the eastern Congo.
But Colonel Vianney Kazarama, the military spokesman for the M23 rebels, responded bullishly to the imminent arrival of the UN troops. "We are ready for this brigade," he said at the M23 commando training camp in Rumangabo. "They will not know the terrain, our tactics, not even the local languages. It will take them weeks to organise. If they attack, we will respond very quickly and with full force."
General James Mwakibolwa of Tanzania, who is to lead the UN brigade, has arrived in Goma, capital of North Kivu province, which has been the theatre of combat with M23 since April last year. But apart from him there is no other sign of the UN force.
South African and Tanzanian troops and weaponry were on their way, said Monusco officials, and are due to arrive in the next week. Soldiers from Malawi will bolster the force at an unspecified later date.