19 10 13 AFP: UN blames rebels for gunfire on DR Congo helicopter

"Two
helicopters left on reconnaissance missions this morning… the pilots of one
of the helicopters felt some impacts on the cockpit… and landed" to
inspect the damage, a source with the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) in DR
Congo, told AFP.

The head
of the UN mission to the country, Martin Kobler, and the Special Envoy to
Africa's Great Lakes region, Mary Robinson, in
a statement strongly condemned "a new attack by the M23 against an unarmed
MONUSCO helicopter, the second in less than a week."

A
heavily-armed 3,000-strong UN intervention brigade joined 17,000 peacekeepers
already deployed in the country with a mission to carry out offensive
operations, alone or with Congolese troops, against rebel fighters operating in
the troubled eastern region.

The
brigade's troops are drawn in equal numbers from Malawi,
South Africa and Tanzania.

The two
UN officials were in Kampala, Uganda, on Friday where peace talks between Kinshasa and the M23
resumed in early September but have stalled for several weeks.

"MONUSCO
believes that nothing should distract or disturb a successful outcome of the Kampala talks,"
Kobler and Robinson added.

The
helicopter incident took place some 15 kilometres (10 miles) north of Goma,
capital of North Kivu province, which has been
in turmoil since warfare ravaged the country from 1996 to 2003.

There
were no injuries and the helicopter was able to return to base.

Last
week, Congolese M23 rebels shot at a UN helicopter but no one was injured.

The M23
was founded by former Tutsi rebels who were incorporated into the Congolese army
under a 2009 peace deal.

Complaining
the deal was never fully implemented, they mutinied in April 2012, turning
their guns on their former comrades and launching the latest rebellion to
ravage DR Congo's mineral-rich and conflict-prone east.

A spokesman
for the rebels, Vianney Kazarama, denied that the M23 was behind the attack.

"This
morning, the M23 did not fire and did not want to fire on MONUSCO," said
Kazarama, indicating that the shots came from the Congolese army (FARDC).

But
Lieutenant-Colonel Olivier Hamuli, a spokesman for the army in North Kivu, hit back, saying: "MONUSCO is a partner
of the FARDC and we are together on the ground. It's the M23 which
shot," said Hamuli.