12 09 13 AFP: DR Congo rebels 'lick their wounds': UN

The
M23 group around
Goma in eastern DR Congo suffered battlefield defeats, UN
peacekeeping
chief Herve Ladsous
said, suggesting that this is what forced it back to peace talks with
the government this week.

M23,
which the United Nations says has received support from neighboring
Rwanda, launched an assault on Goma last month, sparking fierce
battles with government forces.

An
assault by the DR Congo army, backed by UN peacekeepers
and attack helicopters, forced the rebels away from Goma, the major
city in the resource-rich region.

"One
very significant achievement was made: that the M23
group has been pushed back towards the north to such a place that it
does not any more pose the direct threat that it had posed for such a
long time," Ladsous said.

"M23
has suffered casualties" and withdrew to "lick their
wounds," he told reporters after UN Security Council talks on DR
Congo.

UN
forces have strengthened their positions
around Goma and it was "no surprise" that M23
has returned to peace talks with the government in the Ugandan
capital, he added.

Mary
Robinson, UN special envoy for the Great Lakes region, told the
Security Council that M23
had offered to disarm if rival anti-Rwandan rebels operating in the
region also laid down their arms, according to diplomats in the
meeting.

Ladsous
said the United Nations now hopes to start using surveillance drones
over eastern DR Congo in early December. The unarmed drones will help
the UN monitor the border between DR Congo and Rwanda, which denies
aiding M23.

The
UN has also stressed new political efforts to end decades of conflict
in the region. African heads of state are to meet to discuss the DR
Congo in New York on September 23 on the sidelines of the UN General
Assembly leaders' summit.

Eleven
African nations, including DR Congo and Rwanda, signed up to a
UN-brokered declaration in February agreeing not to interfere in each
other's affairs.

A
Security Council statement released after Thursday's meeting
expressed "concern" at the tensions in eastern DR Congo and
said all signatories of the political cooperation accord had to
"fulfill their commitments in good faith."