At 07h50 yesterday morning, the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) of the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) fired the opening shots of the first ever direct attack on rebel forces in UN peacekeeping history.
Two Mi-24P attack helicopters serving with MONUSCO from the 18th Detached Helicopter Unit, Ukrainian Armed Forces, started the operation by roaring over Kibati heights while firing salvos of 80 mm unguided rockets and 30 mm cannon fire at suspected M23 artillery and mortar positions. Shortly afterwards, Tanzanian artillery and South African mortar teams began bombarding M23 positions around Kibati heights and the rest of the Trois Tours region, between 11 and 15 km from Goma.
“MONUSCO has enlisted all of its attack helicopters and its artillery… to push back the M23 offensive that is under way right now on the hills of Kibati.”
During the fighting an officer with the Tanzanian FIB battalion was killed and several others wounded when a mortar fired by M23 forces fell nearby.
Lt Col. Felix Basso, MONUSCO’s military spokesperson, said at a press conference in Kinshasha yesterday that “MONUSCO has enlisted all of its attack helicopters and its artillery… to push back the M23 offensive that is under way right now on the hills of Kibati.”
The intention, as reported to African Defence Review by sources on the ground, is to force M23 off the Kibati heights and prevent it from being able to shell Goma and surrounding towns, as well as providing support for the advancing Congolese military (FARDC) forces. The three regular infantry battalions with the FIB from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania remain in support of FARDC units but not at the front of the fighting.
South African Department of Defence spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini told Al-Jazeera yesterday that “The main engagement is by the [Congolese] forces…We are retaliating and going on the offensive.”
It remains too early to judge how successful the first day has been, although the continued shelling of Goma by M23 this morning indicates that the group retains at least some of its positions in the mountains north of Goma.
Map of the conflict area near Goma where the FIB and FARDC have engaged M23 rebels
Nevertheless, the spokesperson for FARDC, Lt Col. Olivier Hamuli, offered Reuters a positive outlook on the day’s progress, telling them that “combat is ongoing and there has been an intense bombardment of Kibati, It’s going well. We have not advanced much but M23 is gaining no territory.”
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) also denied M23’s claim that 10 South African soldiers had been killed, confirming that one soldier had been slightly wounded by mortar shrapnel and telling journalists that “The reports of four or 10 SANDF members injured or killed are dismissed with the contempt that they deserve…This is just mere propaganda and psychological warfare from the rebel forces who want to portray their so-called success against the DRC government troops and the intervention brigade.”
South African snipers and a record-breaking shot
In addition to the support provided by the FIB’s attack helicopters, artillery and mortar teams, small teams of snipers from the SANDF have been operating behind the lines to disrupt M23’s supply routes. Most of those supply routes run over the Rwandan border, only a few kilometres from the main M23 positions and combat area.
If verified, that would make it the sixth longest-distance confirmed combat sniper shot in history
As at the time of writing, soldiers within the FIB have reported to us that at least six M23 soldiers have been shot dead by SANDF snipers, including one killed at a range of 2 125 m. If verified, that would make it the sixth longest-distance confirmed combat sniper shot in history.
Rwandan involvement and concerns about equipment
There remain persistent claims by FIB soldiers that the Rwandan Defence Force continues to resupply and re-arm the M23 forces and that some RDF soldiers are fighting alongside M23 within the DRC itself. These reports remain unconfirmed, but are raising concerns within the FIB and UN leadership.
According to Pikkie Greeff of the South African National Defence Union (SANDU), a number of South African soldiers deployed with the FIB have expressed frustration with the lack of heavy support weaponry available to them, particularly the delay in sending Rooivalk attack helicopters. One soldier’s comments to SANDU read: “Expect bad news, more casualties. No Gripen or Rooivalk as promised before the commencement of the mission. Engagements continue. What is meant by less [sic] learnt in Bangui, if we still do the same mistake.”
UN sources have indicated that the process to deploy South African Air Force Rooivalk attack helicopters to the DRC is underway with a hoped-for arrival sometime in October.
Correction: An earlier version of this article wrongly printed the sniper shot distance. The actual distance was 2 125 m. We apologise for the error.
Report falsely states that this is first attack on rebels in @UNPeacekeeping history. Aussies did it in Timor in “99
Hi Edward. The Australian intervention in East Timor, International Force for East Timor (INTERFET), was a UN-authorised mission but was not a UN peacekeeping mission. It was not under the direct control of the UN Secretary-General in the way that the FIB is. In other words, the troops weren’t ‘blue helmets’.
In this way it’s most similar to Operation Artemis, the French-led EU intervention in Ituri, DRC in 2003 which was authorised by a UNSC resolution but did not fall under the authority of the then-MONUC UN mission.
Or going even further back we can look at the UN interventions in Iraq in 1991 or Korea in 1950, amongst others.
What makes the FIB unique is that it’s part of MONUSCO, a UN peacekeeping mission, and that it has explicitly been designated as a unit for offensive operations against rebel forces. That’s the first time this has happened, that a peacekeeping force has been explicitly authorised – and equipped – to bring about a military solution.
To be strictly accurate, it’s not the first time a UN peacekeeping operation has moved into direct combat as that happened with ONUC’s Operation Morthor during the Katanga crisis in 1961. The difference there was that Morthor was never authorised properly at UN level and was widely condemned as a result.
Darren,
Thanks for that. I should not have just cut and pasted a short tweet to make the point.
The article is in fact still in error, seeing as UN Blue Helmuts as part of UNTAET, engaged, and killed numerous pro-Indonesia militias that crossed the border from Indonesia into Timor-Leste in 2000 and 2001.
For example from UN records:
“24 October 2000 – PKF soldiers from New Zealand (NZBATT) were involved in a clash with a militia group, killing one militia member, during a patrol near the Mota Raiketan River 7 kms northeast of Suai.”
For more information you can see here.
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/etimor/fact/fs18.pdf and http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/eap/688.htm
Cheers, Edward
No problem.
The UNTAET engagements you’ve referred to are still not that unusual for more robust peacekeeping operations and prior to the FIB MONUSC/MONUSCO had a number of similar actions as well.
For instance, in October 2008 MONUC attack helicopters and armoured vehicles were deployed against rebels from the RCD group, in an attempt to halt their advance towards Goma.
Over the next three years MONUC forces fired openly on rebel forces again on at least four different occasions.
Another major attack was in November 2012, when MONUSCO deployed attack helicopters against an advancing M23 column near Kibumba, killing 64.
During all this there have also been some limited joint operations between MONUC/MONUSCO and the FARDC such as Operations Iron Stone and Eagle Claw.
So peacekeeping does not mean there’s no direct engagement. What makes the FIB unique is that it’s a full-blown combat brigade whose only task is to seek out and neutralise rebel groups, starting with M23. That role is unprecedented in the history of UN peacekeeping missions.
Agreed, that fact that is the first such arm of a peace op is why i find it so interesting. Please keep writing, about it. If you are on twitter let me know, i will follow!
Omg, thank you so much. I’ve been looking for the reason why FIB is so special, since force were also used in previous operations. This legitimate the case of my paper I am working on. Thank you.
http://youtu.be/6zBspZdEb5Q?t=32m37s
IDF bulldozer UN peace keeper vehicles
What’s interesting is that the UN did something for once