United Nations officials have strongly condemned an attack against a UN helicopter by the M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

On Friday, the head of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), Martin Kobler, and the UN special envoy to Africa's Great Lakes region, Mary Robinson, denounced in a statement "a new attack by the M23 against an unarmed MONUSCO helicopter, the second in less than a week."

"M23 rebels will not prevent us from using the Congolese air space. We shall continue doing all in our power to defend civilian populations including by using force if necessary," Kobler said.



"A MONUSCO helicopter was indeed fired at by armed individuals near Goma, in North Kivu, while carrying out the Mission's mandated activities," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

No injuries were reported and the helicopter reportedly returned to base.

In a similar incident on October 12, M23 rebels shot at a UN helicopter with reports of no injury.

The M23 was founded by former Tutsi rebels who were incorporated into the Congolese army under a 2009 peace deal.

The M23 rebels and several other armed groups are active in the eastern Congo and are fighting for control of the country’s vast mineral resources, such as gold, the main tin ore, cassiterite, and coltan (columbite-tantalite), which is used to make many electronic devices, including cellphones.

Since early May 2012, nearly three million people have fled their homes in eastern Congo. About 2.5 million have resettled in Congo, but about 500,000 have crossed into neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.

Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades, such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east of the country that has dragged on since 1998 and left over 5.5 million people dead.