Uganda pillories UN peacekeeping in Congo

Uganda's President has denounced the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Source: AAP

UGANDA has heaped scorn on UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo at a southern African nations summit that agreed to put together a new, neutral force there.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni denounced the inability of MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping mission, to prevent conflict in the troubled region.

"It is a very big shame," said Museveni, a key broker in the crisis.

"It is some sort of military tourism."

On November 20, M23 rebels seized the key town of Goma in the mineral rich province of North Kivu, having shrugged off attacks by MONUSCO combat helicopters and put government troops on the run.

"So many people in uniforms and they just sit on problems," Museveni said of the UN force.

The rebels pulled out of Goma last week after the Congolese government agreed to discuss some of their demands.

The two sides are set to hold talks in the Ugandan capital on Sunday.

MONUSCO has a total of 19,000 men in DR Congo, more than 6000 of whom are deployed in the eastern region affected by M23's recent military offensive.

But they are inhibited by their mandate - as they have been in other instances in DR Congo over the years.

Museveni was speaking at a summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Tanzanian economic capital Dar es Salaam.

The summit's closing statement on Saturday called on the United Nations to modify the mandate of MONUSCO to give it more freedom to fight rebel forces in the territory.

But it also came out in favour of a new, neutral force to rein in the M23 rebels as well as Rwandan Hutu rebels active in the region and other armed groups.

Uganda, which has denied accusations in UN reports that it, along with Rwanda, has supported the mainly Tutsi M23 rebels, had been among those pushing for such a force.

"I am confident that with the neutral international force, we can solve these problems with logistical support from the United Nations," Museveni told the summit earlier.

"It will help the people of Congo and neighbouring countries."

The SADC summit statement committed to deploying the organisation's standby force into the troubled eastern part of the country, which borders both Rwanda and Uganda.

It approved an offer by Tanzania to lead the force, which could be ready to go by next Friday.

Tanzania agreed to provide a battalion to the force and South Africa will supply logistical support.

The new force's mission would be to patrol DR Congo's eastern border with Rwanda and neutralise the various rebel groups active in the region.

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