U.N. and Congolese troops moved against Ugandan rebels in Congo's wartorn east on Sunday, in their latest move to restore government control after the huge nation voted in favour of a postwar constitution, the U.N. said, according to Reuters. Since last week's referendum, which paves the way for elections by the end of June 2006, U.N. and Congolese forces have tackled militias blamed for undermining the peace process and raping, pillaging and murdering civilians in eastern areas. Major Hans-Jakob Reichen, a U.N, military spokesman, confirmed local radio reports of a new operation against Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels in North Kivu province, but declined to give further details. Uganda and neighbouring Rwanda backed rebels in Congo's five-year war. On Saturday some 300 Nepalese U.N. peacekeepers and 1,500 government troops backed by helicopter gunships attacked and captured Nioka, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Bunia, the main town in the unruly Ituri district of northeastern Congo. U.N. and Congolese forces have been fighting in the area for several days against an ethnic Lendu militia which has refused to join a U.N.-backed disarmament process and are accused of atrocities against civilians. Dozens of militia fighters and a number of Congolese troops have been killed in fighting since last Sunday's vote, the first for more than four decades in Africa's third biggest country, where nearly 4 million people have died since war broke out in 1998, mostly from hunger and disease.
