A UN armoured vehicle patrols the streets of Goma. Top European and US diplomats are heading to eastern Congo to try to avert a humanitarian disaster as the UN's top human rights official slammed government forces for lootings, killings and rapes.(AFP/Walter Astrada)
Army On Congo Attack: UN Must Decide
-- Times Now
-- Times Now
The Indian Army has reacted to the Indian soldiers being caught in the middle of the escalating conflict in war-torn Congo saying that they have intimated the United Nations mission and its upto them to take action.
Lt. Gen SPS Dhillon, Deputy COAS, said, “The attack on our soldiers in Congo has been taken note of at the highest level. We have informed the United Nations Security Council as well. We are awaiting a decision from the UN. This is their mission and we cannot influence our soldiers.”
Meanwhile, a Lt Colonel and two other personnel of Indian Army on a peace mission in Congo were injured when a contingent of UN troops came under attack in Congo. An Indian battalion deployed in UN Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) for peacekeeping in that nation came under attack in northern Kivu province during a battle between government and rebel forces, sources said in New Delhi.
Five rockets were fired on two armoured personnel carriers belonging to the Indian troops while they were maintaining security for civilians, resulting in injuries to a Lt Col and two other personnel, they said. In the wake of fighting between the government forces and rebels, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has issued an urgent appeal for an end to the conflict.
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Update: As Truce Holds in Congo City, Refugees Return -- New York Times
My Comment: Key line in the above report .... "Indian troops were asked to deploy themselves from Goma to adjoining North Kivu province, after the Uruguayan battalion deployed in the region fled." ..... in other words ..... they fled