11 07 13 VOA: UN Brigade in DRC Not Magic Solution, Says Commander

Brazilian Lieutenant-General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz took over as force
commander of MONUSCO, the U.N. mission in Congo, in May.  His previous
mission was as U.N. force commander in Haiti, where he took on criminal
gangs.

The general’s arrival coincides with deployment of a 3,000-strong U.N.
intervention brigade in eastern Congo,
tasked with carrying out offensive operations to neutralize armed groups. 
It’s the first time a contingent within a peacekeeping mission has been given
such a mandate.

Unstable East

But eastern Congo has a
myriad of militia and rebel groups that have kept eastern Congo unstable
for years, and on Monday General Cruz warned against unrealistic expectations.

"It’s very important to know that the intervention brigade is one more
tool in the mission in order to bring peace to this region.  But we need
to be very realistic because it is not the magic solution to all the
problems.  Everyone knows we need to have a political solution," he
said.

The DRC government has a delegation at peace talks in Uganda with the
rebel group M23, and this week there have been some reports of progress at the
talks.

General Cruz said the mission would keep a close eye on the talks and would
harmonize military action on the ground with the political conversation there.

He said neither M23 nor any other armed group is a priority target for the
intervention brigade.

"Actually we don’t have priorities," he said. "If you have an
armed group committing atrocities in Katanga
or South Kivu or Ituri, for us it’s the
priority because our main goal is to stop violence against the
population."

Katanga, South
Kivu and Ituri are three areas where M23 is not present.

On Saturday, MONUSCO troops opened fire on an armed group close to a U.N. checkpoint
between the M23 and the Congolese army north of Goma.

MONUSCO says its troops at the checkpoint came under fire from unidentified
combatants, believed to be from a Congolese Mai-Mai militia, who had attacked
an M23 position.

The U.N. peacekeepers fired warning shots, and in an exchange of fire that
followed, one of the combatants was killed, two were wounded and a child
soldier was captured.

General Cruz said his men had followed their rules of engagement and their
reaction was legal.