Big Talk

This is absolutely priceless.

After years being derided as "tourists in a war zone", the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sent out a new message - that it will get tough on ethnic militias.

Known as Monuc, the UN force in DR Congo is one of the world's largest, and one of its most controversial.

Nine of its troops were killed last week in an ambush in DR Congo's north-eastern Ituri region, the deadliest attack since Monuc was set up in 1999.

Monuc has responded with a high-profile offensive killing 50 militia fighters.

United Nations peacekeepers? Getting tough on militias? This is the UN's idea of getting tough.

A United Nations commander has denied claims that civilians were killed in an offensive by peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He said his men were careful to avoid harming villagers when more than 50 militiamen were killed in a gun battle in the north-eastern region of Ituri.

An ethnic Lendu militia group in the region has been blamed for an ambush last week in which nine UN troops died.

A local Lendu leader has accused the UN of wreaking indiscriminate revenge.

When a United Nations peacekeeper in the Congo gets tough, it's usually with prostitutes and young girls.

And you thought Abu Ghurayb was bad.