UN probes report of troops attack on civilians

THE United Nations is investigating a report that peacekeepers in Congo allegedly fired mortars at a civilian area and stood by as Congolese troops set a village ablaze.

The allegations which were made in the London- based Observer on Sunday said South African and Pakistani troops broke UN rules when they fired toward a village despite the presence of civilians.

The troops were deployed in support of Congolese soldiers chasing militias, and believed all civilians had fled the town of Kana, The Observer reported. It said the UN peacekeepers later did nothing as Congolese troops torched houses in the village.

UN spokesman Farina Haq said the organisation’s peacekeeping department was looking into the report.

“The UN’s standing rules for its peacekeepers are in fact to avoid any civilian casualties and whenever there are problems reported to us, we look into them,” Ms Haq said.

The UN has 17,000 troops in Congo, its largest peacekeeping deployment worldwide. Peacekeepers there have taken a far more aggressive stance than UN troops have done on other missions, frequently joining Congolese troops on operations to hunt down militias.

The troops are trying to bring quiet to Congo’s volatile East ahead of a July 30 presidential vote that will be the country’s first since independence from Belgium in 1960.