U.N peacekeepers to redeploy their forces from South Kivu and Ituri to North Kivu

U.N. peacekeepers announced on 11 September 2008 that they will redeploy their forces from South Kivu and Ituri to North Kivu. Fighting between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government forces and Laurent Nkunda's rebel National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) has been ongoing in North Kivu province -- located in the eastern DRC, bordering Rwanda and Uganda -- since 28 August; several people have been killed in the skirmishes and dozens more injured. Although the fighting violates the Goma peace agreement, which was signed in January 2008, peacekeepers have been unable to restore order to the province because of their limited mandate to use force. Recent reports have expressed concern that the current brief episodes of violence may escalate to an all out civil war if security forces are unable to contain the rebel group. MONUC, the U.N. mission in the DRC, has approximately 14,000 peacekeepers in the country, the largest peacekeeping contingent in the world.