The UN envoy¹ to the Democratic Republic of Congo says a joint² military operation against rebels will be concluded at the end of this month.

联合国驻刚果民主共和国特使称，本月底将会有一场针对叛军的联合军事行动。

Fighting since 1998 has killed 5 million people in DR Congo

Alan Doss told the UN Security Council that the campaign in the east of the country had "largely achieved" its goal of weakening the Rwandan Hutu胡图族 rebels.

The operation was criticised by rights groups, who accuse Congolese government troops of killing³ and raping⁴ civilians⁵.

UN experts had said the campaign failed to dismantle⁶拆除，解散 militia⁷ infrastructure基础设施，公共建设.

But Mr Doss declared that had not been the objective, as the rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda卢旺达民主解放力量 (FDLR), is deeply entrenched盘踞，扎根 in eastern Congo.

He did acknowledge there was a dilemma⁹ at the heart of the peacekeeping mandate托管，授权 to both protect civilians and work with an undisciplined无训练的 Congolese army.

Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch said the offensive had seen 1,400 civilians murdered this year by both Congolese troops and rebels.

New mandate¹⁰

Mr Doss told the Security Council that Congolese troops backed by the UN force "will now concentrate on holding ground recovered from the FDLR and preventing attacks on civilians in areas of vulnerability".

The FDLR has been active in eastern Congo for 15 years.

Some of its older members are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, which targeted the Tutsi minority and claimed about 800,000 lives.

Mr Doss said during the first half of next year UN officials would propose a realistic plan for reconfiguring the 21,000-strong peacekeeping force in Congo, known as Monuc, which has been deployed¹¹ in the country for the past 10 years.

Diplomats¹² say a draft resolution submitted to the Security Council would extend the peacekeepers mandate by five months.

At that point, the idea would be to begin phasing them out逐步淘汰 of combat and into a programme to reform the army and police forces, says the BBC's Barbara Plett at the United Nations in New York.