Tanzanian troops arrive in Congo for intervention force

GOMA, Congo — A contingent of about 100 Tanzanian troops arrived in eastern Congo on Saturday, a first step in assembling the new United Nations intervention brigade, said a U.N. spokesman.

The Tanzanian troops are the first batch to form the U.N. intervention bri- gade to be deployed in eastern Congo after a Security Council resolution in March, said peacekeeping mission spokesman Lt. Col. Felix Basse. Malawi and South Africa also have pledged to contribute troops to the U.N. force.

The brigade commander arrived in Goma on April 21, but troops have only just started arriving in eastern Congo.

The need for an intervention force be- came clear in November, when the U.N. peacekeepers merely stood by as Congo’s M23 rebels took the provincial capital of Goma.

The rebels eventually withdrew two weeks later, but the fall of Goma persuaded the international community to try to end the turmoil that has plagued eastern Congo for years.

But with slightly more than 3,000 spe- cial troops to battle more than 25 armed groups in the Kivu region alone, the new U.N. brigade risks being spread too thin, say military experts. Already eastern Congo’s M23 rebels are training fighters in guerrilla tactics to fight the U.N. troops.

Congo’s authorities have a lot of hope that the new U.N. brigade will help solve the security crisis in the east.