UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- UN peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are trying to press fighters in a rebel group to leave a town they recently entered near the Ugandan border, said a UN news release Thursday.

    The UN Mission for the DRC, known by its French acronym MONUC, rejected some reports that the DRC-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) had systematically occupied positions vacated by another rebel group, the National Congress in Defense of the People (CNDP).

    "UN peacekeepers, meanwhile, will be redeploying in the Ishasha region until later this month," UN spokesperson Michele Montas told a news briefing in New York.

    "The peacekeepers are patrolling the region, and they intend to press the FDLR forces to leave," Montas said.

    Deadly fighting between government forces, the CNDP and Mayi Mayi militia in North Kivu province in recent months has forced some 250,000 people to flee their homes.

    MONUC said that it is continuing to reinforce its presence in North Kivu, after the French-speaking blue helmets arrived in the provincial capital Goma to protect civilians.

    The mission noted that its combat helicopters in Goma and neighbouring provinces are on alert and ready to respond to any threat of attack.