The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has accused elements within the country's national army of committing crimes against the civilian population.

Alan Doss, head of the mission known as MONUC, also told a briefing to the UN Security Council on Friday that a spate of reprisal attacks by fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu rebel group, and the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), had caused "new civilian displacements and serious human rights violations".

The Congolese army, which is partly comprised of former rebels, has repeatedly been accused of rape, pillage and murder.

Doss's comments come after an announcement from government forces of a "zero tolerance policy" towards the perpetrators of criminal acts or undisciplined behaviour within its ranks.

Doss also said his forces are making steady progress towards subduing armed rebel groups in the country’s devastated eastern region.

Delayed deployment

But the arrival of 3,000 extra peacekeepers in the DRC, aimed at supporting the UN mission there has been delayed.

Doss initially predicted in May that reinforcements for the 17,000 UN troops already in the country would start arriving in July, but said it could now be up to another three months before they showed up.

"So far, I have to be frank, none of those troops are in-country. I hope that they will be so in the next two to three months," he said.

"We have reasonable assurances now that the first elements will start to arrive in the next couple of months."

Although the DRCs 1998-2003 war has officially ended, the vast central African nation's eastern provinces remain plagued by lingering fighting between the army, rebels, and local militias.

MONUC backs the army's operations against the FDLR, seen as a root cause of the violence in eastern Congo.

But aid agencies have criticised the drives for sparking rebel reprisals on local civilians rather than stabilising the situation.

In his address to the council, Doss acknowledged that the operations had led to "serious humanitarian consequences" for civilians, and said MONUC had sought to address this by increasing its presence in the region.

But in an article for the Washington Times newspaper on Friday, he rejected suggestions by what he called "well meaning observers" that MONUC should withdraw from joint operations.

"Such a move would not end the brutality and might well perpetuate it," he wrote.