EQUIPPED AND SELDOM-PAID NATIONAL ARMY THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE FIGHTING ALONGSIDE THE U.N. BLUE HELMETS. THE WORLD BODY HAD TO CANCEL A JOINT OPERATION WITH THE CONGOLESE ARMY TO RETAKE TCHEI IN MARCH AFTER DOZENS OF ARMY COMMANDOS MUTINIED AND RANSACKED A U.N. BASE. IT WAS THEIR SECOND ATTEMPT TO WIN CONTROL OF THE TOWN. MILITARY SOURCES SAY TCHEI IS THOUGHT TO BE THE BASE FOR THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT OF CONGO (MRC), A LOOSE COALITION OF MILITIA GROUPS WHICH JOINED FORCES IN NEIGHBOURING UGANDA LAST YEAR TO TRY TO PREVENT THE RETURN OF STATE CONTROL TO ITURI. ONE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THE GROUP, KNOWN BY HIS NOMME DE GUERRE "INDIA QUEEN", WAS WOUNDED AND CAPTURED IN FIGHTING WITH THE CONGOLESE ARMY LAST WEEK AND WAS DUE TO BE INTERROGATED BY THE U.N. MISSION IN ITURI'S MAIN TOWN OF BUNIA. THE UNITED NATIONS HAS NEARLY 17,000 SOLDIERS IN CONGO, THE WORLD BODY'S LARGEST PEACEKEEPING MISSION, BUT THEY ARE THINLY STRETCHED ACROSS A COUNTRY ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF WESTERN EUROPE. VIOLENCE IN THE MINERAL-RICH EAST, WHERE FOREIGN AND LOCAL REBELS GROUPS CONTINUE TO PLUNDER NATURAL RESOURCES AND ATTACK CIVILIANS, HAVE COMPLICATED PREPARATIONS FOR THE JULY POLLS.
