UN probe into gold trafficking by peacekeepers

The investigative arm of the United Nations mission in Congo has opened an investigation into allegations that a unit of Indian peacekeepers stationed there were trafficking gold.

The inquiry is focusing on peacekeepers from India stationed in the province of Nord-Kivu, in eastern Congo near the Rwandan border, says UN spokesman Kemal Saiki.

The eastern region has been among the most unstable in Congo, with routine attacks on villages by Rwandan rebels, who were forced out of their country following the 1994 genocide.

Another UN official in Congo said the Indian peacekeepers in eastern Congo had been trading rations for gold with the Rwandan rebels.

Among the rebels involved are members of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, composed largely of the extremist Hutu militia, known as the Interahamwe, who led the 100-day genocide of more than 500,000 people in Rwanda 13 years ago.

The trafficking, said the UN official, was being carried out in the town of Nyabiondo, a village situated some 700 miles east of Kinshasa, the capital.