Defeating Rwandan FDLR insurgents, who have
long been used as a pretext for intervention in Congo
by neighbouring Rwanda,
is seen as the next step in ending decades of conflict along the veteran foes'
shared border, weeks after the Congolese Tutsi-led M23 rebels were defeated.

General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz said on
U.N.-backed Radio Okapi on Tuesday that his troops would attack the FDLR rebel
forces in a bid to secure a road between the eastern Congolese towns of
Kitchanga and Pinga.

"Everyone knows that the presence of armed
groups along the border creates problems with the neighbouring states," he
said.

In November, U.N. soldiers in a newly formed
intervention brigade with a robust mandate supported the Congolese army with
artillery and attack helicopters in defeating the M23 rebellion, the most serious
in Congo
in the last decade.

The brigade, made up of troops from South Africa, Tanzania
and Malawi, will also lead
operations against the FDLR, which has launched sporadic attacks in Rwanda in an
attempt to destabilise Rwandan President Paul Kagame's government.

The FDLR, is a Hutu, anti-Kigali rebel group
sprung from militias operating out of eastern Congo since fleeing the 1994
genoocide of 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus.

"We have already intensified patrols and
observation along the border and we are planning operations against all rebel
positions along the frontier," Dos Santos Cruz added.

At the start of December, the U.N. also
unveiled surveillance drones that it will use to monitor the volatile border
between Congo and its
neighbours Rwanda and Uganda.