Indian jawans aid Congo rebels' surrender

NEW DELHI: After a string of bad news from Congo, which even saw Indian soldiers being ���wrongly��� accused of large scale gold smuggling and arms trading, the Indian army has now redeemed its reputation by facilitating the surrender of 67 Rwandan combatants in the strife-torn central African nation.
As per information received by the army HQ here, the North Kivu brigade of 4,372 Indian soldiers, part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC), played a ���major role��� in the surrender of 67 combatants from the dissenting faction of FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) at Kasiki on July 31.
"This was the largest surrender of combatants over the last two-three years. More are expected to follow, with Indian peacekeepers facilitating talks between UN representatives and armed rebel groups," said an officer.
"The combatants surrendered with 41 weapons, including 33 AK-47 assault rifles. More surrenders are expected to follow. It will go a long way in projecting the face of MONUC in bringing peace and stability in the region," he added.
This comes soon after the army took serious objection to "persistent efforts to undermine the credibility" of Indian troops deployed in Congo, holding that all allegations against its soldiers ��� ranging from gold smuggling and arms trading to even sexual exploitation ��� had been found to be "false and baseless".
The Army says only one incident of "aberrant behaviour" by three Indian soldiers in Congo had come to light during the probe conducted into the allegations by UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
Disciplinary action has been initiated against the three ��� a Lt colonel, a subedar and a havaldar ��� in keeping with the Army's "zero tolerance" policy against any acts of omission or commission which violates "the code of professional ethics".
With 4,372 soldiers and nine IAF helicopters, India has the largest presence in the UN mission in Congo, one of the world���s richest countries in terms of mineral wealth but torn apart by a raging civil war, which has led to what is being called "one of the world's largest humanitarian disasters".
Interestingly, the second largest troop contributor in the 16,475-strong MONUC is Pakistan with 3,551 soldiers. At present, 8,896 Indian soldiers are deployed in six UN missions, which range from Congo, Lebanon and Ethiopia-Eritrea to Sudan, Golan Heights and Ivory Coast. Overall, India comes third after Pakistan (10,569) and Bangladesh (9,136) in this regard.