A contingent of about 100 Tanzanian soldiers has arrived in Congo to join a United Nations mission aimed at neutralizing armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to peacekeeping mission spokesman Lt. Col. Felix Basse, the Tanzanian troops, who entered eastern Congo on Saturday, are the first batch to form the new 3,000-strong UN intervention force to be deployed in the African country.
On March 28, the UN Security Council passed a resolution, which not only renewed the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo for one year, but also created a special UN brigade that will fight armed groups, rather than merely defend civilians.
On April 23, the commander of the UN intervention force arrived in Goma, but troops who were scheduled to be in eastern Congo by the end of April have only just started arriving there.
On May 4, March 23 movement (M23) rebels told Tanzania that they would attack and kill its troops if they join the UN mission.
“This is intimidation, they must stop it,” Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe told parliament.
“We are not going to Congo as lords of war, we are going there as advocates of peace to help our neighbors,” Membe stated.
Last month, Bertrand Bisimwa, the M23â„¢s political leader, sent a letter to Tanzania’s parliament, saying the rebels had defeated even “larger and better equipped” armies. He warned that the same would happen to Tanzanian soldiers if they went ahead with their “dangerous adventure”.
Several armed groups, including the M23 rebels, are active in the east of the DRC and fighting for control of the countryâ„¢s vast mineral resources, such as gold, the main tin ore cassiterite, and coltan (columbite-tantalite), which is used to make many electronic devices, including cell phones.
Since early May 2012, nearly 3 million people have fled their homes in the eastern Congo. About 2.5 million have resettled in Congo, but more than 460,000 have crossed into neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.
Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades, such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east of the country that has dragged on since 1998 and left over 5.5 million people dead.
GJH/AS
This article originally appeared on : Press TV