18 07 13 Reuters: U.N. reviewing Congo army support over M23 abuse allegations

U.N. peacekeepers had
raised the reported abuse of M23 rebels with the Congolese army and welcomed
steps by the army "to investigate these claims and to hold the
perpetrators of these acts accountable," Ban's press office said in a
statement.

Congolese army forces, or
FARDC, supported by helicopters, attacked M23 rebel positions near the eastern
city of Goma on Tuesday in a third day of heavy fighting that has forced
hundreds of villagers to flee their homes.

"The
Secretary-General is deeply concerned about reports of alleged mistreatment of
M23 detainees and desecration of corpses of M23 combatants by the Congolese
armed forces," Ban's press office said.

The 17,000-strong U.N.
force, known as MONUSCO, and Congo troops have
struggled over the past decade to stem a conflict involving dozens of armed
groups and complicated by national and ethnic rivalries. A new 3,000-member
U.N. Intervention Brigade was recently deployed to fight and disarm rebels in
the east.

"MONUSCO has launched
the process of reviewing its support to FARDC units suspected of being involved
in these incidents," said Ban's statement. "The Secretary-General
calls on the DRC to bring the perpetrators of these reported acts to
justice."

The United Nations threatened
in February to withdraw support for two Congolese battalions after soldiers
raped at least 97 women and 33 girls, some as young as 6, in an eastern town after
they fled from advancing M23 rebels in late November.

The peacekeeping mission
decided to keep working with the battalions after 12 senior officers, including
the commanders and deputy commanders, were suspended and about a dozen soldiers
charged over the rapes in Minova, according to a U.N. human rights report.

M23 began taking parts of
eastern Congo
early last year, accusing the government of failing to honor a 2009 peace deal.
That deal ended a previous rebellion and led to the rebels' integration into
the army, but they have since deserted.

A report by U.N. experts
last month said that M23 recruited fighters in neighboring Rwanda with the
aid of sympathetic Rwandan army officers, while elements of the Congolese army
have cooperated with Rwandan Hutu rebel group FDLR.

Rwanda and Congo
have both denied the accusations.