A special UN brigade led by Tanzania, which was formed to neutralise M23 rebels in Goma has taken its first military action, firing heavy artillery at rebels menacing the border city of Goma, nearly three weeks since the expiry of a deadline issued by the UN forces to Congolese rebels in the region to surrender voluntarily.

M23 clashes

The force of Tanzanian, South African and Malawian soldiers was backing the Congolese army against M23 fighters, whose brief occupation of the city last year damaged the image of the UN mission in Congo and led the Security Council to create the brigade.

The United Nations pledged in July to prevent the rebels from getting back within range of the city of about a million people on the Rwandan border.

But M23 this week entered a security zone ringing Goma that was established by the new, robustly-mandated Intervention Brigade earlier this month.

At least five people were killed on Thursday when shells landed on the city.

“Of course we responded with artillery as we cannot accept any threat to the population. That’s why we retaliated,” UN Lieutenant-Colonel Felix Basse told Reuters by telephone from Goma referring to Thursday’s fighting.

Clashes between M23 and the Congolese army resumed early on Friday with peacekeepers again involved to hold back the rebels.

“Not just the Intervention Brigade but the complete MONUSCO force is acting to protect Goma,” Basse said, adding that the army had by late afternoon taken territory from the rebels, including a strategic hill in Kibati, 11 km (7 miles) north of the city.

A Congolese army spokesman acknowledged the brigade was supporting government troops with artillery fire.

Meanwhile an M23 spokesman claimed the rebels were trying to avoid direct clashes but would respond to attacks.

“If the army carries on attacking us we’re going to defend ourselves,” Amani Kabasha said.

M23 has rejected responsibility for shelling Goma, but UN officials were quick to accuse the rebels of deliberately targeting civilians and U.N. positions. France followed suit.

” particularly condemns the attacks perpetrated by M23 against the civilian population and installations of MONUSCO, which constitute war crimes,” a foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.

Ready or not

Though it received its mandate in March, only around 2,000 of the Intervention Brigade’s total force of 3,000 troops are currently in place in Congo and supplies and weaponry are still en route from contributing countries.

But Jason Stearns, director of the Rift Valley Institute’s Usalama Project, said the force had little choice but to engage.

“The current fighting comes at a time of almost unparalleled pressure on the U.N. mission to do something. Unfortunately, it also comes before their Intervention Brigade is completely operational,” he said.

The special brigade was established after M23 fighters marched past UN soldiers to briefly seize Goma last November.

The rebels withdrew after receiving promises of peace talks with the Congolese government. But the city’s fall dealt a serious blow to the image of MONUSCO – with 17,000 troops the world’s largest UN mission – and the UN is under pressure to ensure Goma is not retaken.

Some in the Intervention Brigade’s contributing countries have voiced concern over their troops’ daunting task of fighting and disarming rebel groups in the difficult terrain of Congo’s volatile eastern borderlands.

A military spokesman in South Africa, which saw 14 of its soldiers killed in clashes with rebels in the Central African Republic in March, said South African troops had not been involved in clashes with M23.

“The fight is taking place near where our troops are positioned. We have a defensive line but we have not engaged,” Siphiwe Dlamini said.

In another development, the Tanzania People’s Defense Forces (TPDF) yesterday admitted that a middle ranking officer is missing, but refuted claims that the soldier fled to Rwanda with sensitive security documents.

TPDF spokesman, Major Eriki Komba said in Dar es Salaam that the missing officer was Lieutenant Colonel Colestine Seromba, an information technology expert tasked with training cadets in the use of computers.

TPDF was still searching for the missing officer, he said, noting that his sudden disappearance was triggered by the discrepancies noticed in his duties with the army.

He said before he disappeared Lt. Col. Seromba committed what in the army is termed as a service offense and placed under investigation, with possibility of facing a court martial.

Maj. Komba told reporters that Lt. Col. Seromba disappeared on December 17 last year, and had surrendered documents and equipment he was in possession when on duty.

He fell short of explanation on suspected offenses that the officer may have committed, noting only that the officer at large originates from Rukira Village in Kagera region.

He received his primary education at Rukira Primary School and then Rulenge Secondary School in Ngara district, before proceeding to Minaki High School.

The army spokesman said the officer was not in charge of the ICT department, emphasizing that Lt. Col. Seromba was just an ICT trainer, in which case the sort of information he held related to cadets in attendance, training outcomes and such other details, he said.

Military regulations preclude an officer of the rank of lieutenant colonel to have access to sensitive army documents, the spokesman affirmed, noting that as investigations were opened against him, no army documents or equipment were left at his disposal.

Maj. Komba said that since offences the officer is suspected of committing had no time bar, TPDF would continue searching for him, denying knowledge of where he might have fled.