29 10 13 AFP: Congo M23 rebels 'practically' finished: UN envoy

 

"Practically
all M23 positions were abandoned yesterday, except a for small
triangle at the Rwandan border," Martin Kobler told the UN
Security Council by video-link, according to diplomats.

Kobler,
the civilian special representative in charge of the UN stabilization mission
in the DRC, was speaking after Congolese government forces backed by UN troops
carried out an offensive.

Troops
from the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO have a mandate to
conduct operations against rebels in the region of Goma, capital of the restive
province of North Kivu.

A
Tanzanian UN soldier was killed in the fighting, but the rebels were rolled
back and local civilians are overjoyed, Kobler said, according to officials
present at the closed door meeting.

He said
that the M23 had abandoned a key position on Mount Hehu
near the Rwandan border, reportedly adding: "It is practically the
military end of theM23."

The
mainly Tutsi M23 movement emerged in April 2012 after a mutiny by
former rebels who had been taken into the Democratic Republic of Congo army
under a 2009 deal.

Rebels
accused Kinshasa of failing to keep the terms of
that deal, then on-off talks in the Ugandan capital Kampala failed after the government refused
to give an amnesty to about 80 rebel leaders.

The M23's
numbers were limited, but the movement, which allegedly received support from
neighboring Rwanda,
was seen as a threat to stability in a region with long history of conflict.