The United Nations has started a full investigation into the deaths of two UN peacekeepers in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and pulled some 50 UN staffers out of the western African nation in face of fighting and anti-UN riots, UN officials said on Tuesday.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters that the UN observer mission in the DRC (MONUC) is carrying out a full probe into Sunday's deadly incident, in which at least 11 other peacekeepers were injured.

The secretary-general "is deeply saddened" by the deaths of the two peacekeepers, who were killed near Rutshuru, a town in eastern DRC, when their convoy came under fire, he said.

UN officials confirmed that some 50 "non-essential" UN civilian staffers were evacuated to neighboring Uganda from the DRC, where anti-UN riots have raged over the past few days.

Riots erupted in the DRC capital of Kinshasa and other major cities early last week after thousands of Congolese took to the streets in protest against the failure of MONUC to prevent renegade soldiers from taking Bukavu, a key town in eastern DRC.

MONUC was deployed in the DRC in December 1999 to monitor a truce between the government and the rebels and help them implement a comprehensive peace agreement. Currently, it has about 11,000 military personnel, civilian police and civilian staff.

UN condemns rebels' seizure of DRC town 

The UN Security Council decried on Monday the seizure of Bukavu, a strategic town in the eastern DRC, by renegade soldiers and urged them to stop the rebellion immediately.

In a presidential statement, the 15-nation council condemned "with the utmost firmness" the seizure of Bukavu as well as atrocities and human rights violations that have occurred in the process.

The council said the rebels' military actions constituted "a serious threat" to the DRC's peace process and demanded that these actions cease immediately.

It urged all parties represented in the DRC transitional government to remain committed to the peace process and to abstain from any action that could endanger the unity of the government.

The council warned the DRC's neighboring countries of the consequences of support to the armed rebel groups in the DRC.

It also condemned the recent killing of three UN peacekeepers in the DRC and called on all Congolese parties to refrain from any hostile action against the personnel or facilities of the United Nations.

(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2004)