African Union commission chief Jean Ping on Wednesday welcomed the result of a joint military operation by Rwanda and the emocratic Republic of Congo against Rwandan Hutu rebels."We fully support the peace process going on in Congo. We are happy to say that the solution adopted in order to deal with the crisis in the east of the country is close to the one we advocated," Ping told journalists.
"The results taken as a whole are positive," he added.
"We think that peace must come to Congo after some 15 years of war, with five million dead. The suffering of the Congolese must be brought to an end," he said.
The offensive against the Hutu rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) -- whose members include perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide mainly against minority Tutsis -- started on January 20.
Officials have said 153 rebels and eight alliance soldiers were killed in the operation.
Rwandan troops on Wednesday began to leave eastern DR Congo where they had been deployed.
Ping has been visiting the country since Monday and on Tuesday met Congolese President Joseph Kabila.
He was due to leave for Kigali on Wednesday where he would hold talks with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
