02/09/13 Reuters: Congo army fights on despite rebel ceasefire offer

 Democratic Republic of
Congo's army, backed by a new U.N. brigade with an unprecedented mandate to
launch attacks, has forced M23 rebels to retreat from positions they have held
for months overlooking the eastern city of Goma.

Some shells fired during
recent fighting have landed in neighboring Rwanda, threatening to pull the
small but militarily powerful country openly into the conflict.

Both Congo's army
and rebels have accused the other of firing the missiles. U.N. experts and Congo's government says Rwanda is already backing the rebels but Kigali denies this.

Both sides said fighting
erupted several kilometers (miles) north of Kibati, hilltop positions seized
from rebels on Friday – the latest in nearly two decades of unrest fuelled by
ethnicity, local politics and competition over land and mineral wealth.

" are criminals and we
are obliged to pursue them. We want to recapture all of the territory they
currently occupy and restore the authority of the army and state," said
Congolese army spokesman Lt Colonel Olivier Hamuli.

In a statement sent to
journalists, M23 confirmed the resumption of fighting and complained it came
despite a pullback by its troops and an offer of a ceasefire.

RWANDAN ARMOUR

U.N. forces in North Kivu province, where the fighting is taking place,
said they were not involved in the latest clashes.

The army's U.N.-backed
advance this week is the most significant victory government troops have
recorded during this latest 18-month rebellion, whose leaders complain the
Kinshasa government failed to honor the terms of a deal to end an earlier,
similar uprising.

M23 seized Goma last
November after insurgents overran the army and marched past U.N. peacekeepers.
The rebels withdrew under intense international pressure and started peace
talks with the government but these have stalled.

The failure of U.N.
peacekeepers to protect Goma led to the creation of an "Intervention
Brigade" with a robust mandate to neutralize rebels. This force was
spurred into action last week by the shelling of Goma and nearby Gisenyi, in Rwanda, that
killed several civilians.

The United
Nations has blamed the rebels for the shelling but M23 and Rwanda have said Congo's army was responsible. Kigali has accused Kinshasa
of provocation and has not ruled out dispatching troops to Congo to protect
its territory.

Rwandan media published
photos of armor being sent towards Rwanda's
northern border with Congo
this week. Congo's
government and U.N. peacekeepers have said there are already signs of Rwandan
infiltration.

Diplomats say world leaders
are applying pressure on Rwanda's
President Paul Kagame not to intervene.

Rwanda and Congo have
fought two wars in the last two decades, with Kigali
arguing it had to send troops to Congo
to hunt down extremist Hutu rebels who fled to Congo
after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.