28 10 13 Reuters: Army says pushing back M23 rebels in eastern Congo

The army
clashed with M23 rebels for the first time in two months on Friday
after peace talks in Uganda
broke down this week. Rwanda
accused the army of firing a shell into its territory, sparking fears that its
military might intervene.

M23 said
in a statement on Saturday that the army had launched a "generalized
attack" on several fronts, but said the fighting was turning in its
favour.

Army
spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli said, however, that M23 had been
forced out of Kibumba, a town some 20 km (13 miles) north of Goma, the largest city in
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We
have pushed M23 into the hills on the Rwandan border," he told a
Reuters reporter near the frontline. "We now call on Rwanda to help
us disarm their fighters."

United
Nations investigators have accused Rwanda
of supporting M23, charges that Kigali
denies.

Hamuli
said the army was also advancing from Rwindi, north of M23-controlled
territory in Congo's North Kivu province, attacking the rebel group in a
pincher movement.

M23 formed
in early 2012 when army soldiers mutinied, saying the government had broken a
2009 peace deal signed with a previous Rwanda-backed rebel movement.

On
Friday, Rwanda
said shells fired by the Congolese army landed in its territory. Rwanda's U.N.
ambassador told a closed-door meeting of the Security Council it would not
tolerate such shelling and could respond militarily, diplomats said.

The
fighting is the most serious since late August, when the Congolese army and a
new U.N. Intervention Brigade forced M23 from positions just north of
Goma. The brigade, made up mostly of South African and Tanzanian soldiers, has
a mandate to take on and destroy armed groups in eastern Congo.

On-off
peace talks between the government and M23, taking place in the Ugandan
capital Kampala
since December, stalled on Monday, with the government saying it would not
offer rebel leaders a blanket amnesty.

The
U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUSCO) said on Friday it was on
high alert and monitoring the clashes. MONUSCO aircraft flew over the
region but South African and Tanzanian troops present near the frontline did
not join the combat.

A U.N.
spokesman in New York said some 5,000
civilians had fled across the border into Rwanda.

In a
joint statement, U.N. special envoy to the Great Lakes region Mary Robinson and
head of MONUSCO Martin Kobler urged restraint and called on both
sides to return to the negotiating table in Kampala.