All known camps of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan rebel movement operating in Eastern Congo, have fallen to a joint Congolese army and United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) offensive, a MONUC military spokesman said in Goma Tuesday. "Mwalika base is the last base taken by government troops today, and most of the survivors have fled to the Ruhenzori mountains near the Ugandan border," the MONUC spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The joint offensive of 3,500 government troops supported by a 600-man MONUC contingent began December 24 and has so far claimed the lives of 89 rebels, six Congolese government troops and one Indian peacekeeper, according to the MONUC official. Known as North Night Final, the operation is currently ongoing pending a decision expected to be made Tuesday evening, the official added. The 17-thousand-strong peacekeeping MONUC force - the world's largest - is assisting the Congolese national army to flush out and disarm as many foreign militia as possible in a bid to stabilise security in the notorious east of the country before next year's landmark elections.
