The surprise arrest of Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda by his former Rwandan allies raises many questions. Here are some answers provided by Michelle Faul (Associated Press Writer)
Q. Why is Laurent Nkunda so important?
A. Nkunda's ambitions have grown over the years from leading a force to protect his minority Congolese Tutsi people against a Rwandan Hutu militia operating in Congo into a secessionist movement. And in recent months, a movement that would topple the Congolese government — the country's first democratically elected one in 40 years formed after back-to-back civil wars and elections held at huge international effort and expense.
Since August, Nkunda's rebels — the best trained force in Congo — have seized a large swath of eastern Congo, including nearly all army bases and major towns. There are fears the conflict could again spill over Congo's borders and explode into an international conflict as happened in the 1990s when six African nations fought in Congo and some 5 million people were killed.
Q. What is Nkunda accused of?
A. Congo issued an arrest warrant for Nkunda in 2005 after he refused to rejoin the national army, accusing him of war crimes and gross human rights abuses. International human rights groups accuse fighters under Nkunda's command of summary executions, torture and rape. The United Nations accuses him of recruiting and abducting thousands of children to become soldiers and sex slaves — charges he denies.
Q. What will happen to Nkunda now?
A. The charges against him could form the basis for a case in the International Criminal Court, which last year indicted his chief-of-staff, Bosco Ntabanga, for alleged conscription of child soldiers.
Q. Why has it taken so long to take action against Nkunda?
A. Three converging events appear to have made Nkunda's arrest politically viable: a split in his movement led by Ntabanga made him more vulnerable; his burgeoning ambition that estranged him from some within his movement and apparently supporters in the Rwandan government; and intense international pressure was brought after Nkunda's last campaign left more than a quarter million people homeless and unknown thousands dead.
Q. Why should the world care about what happens in eastern Congo?
A. Congo's sprawling borders reach nine other African countries and conflict in Congo can spark instability in its neighbors. Fears remain that fighting in Congo could invite invasion by its neighbors and escalate into an international war. Congo's vast mineral wealth has helped fuel and prolong its conflicts, becoming a source of pain to its people instead of a means to kick start the economy. Congo's wars from 1996-2002 killed more than 5 million people — the highest toll since World War II. The International Rescue Committee estimates that 45,000 civilians continue to die every month in Congo, most from disease and starvation tied to conflict.
Q. Was the war in eastern Congo triggered by the Rwandan genocide?
A. Conflict has been simmering in eastern Congo for decades, between Congolese and Rwandans who left abandoned their overcrowded country and acquired land across the border, often illegally. In Congo's war-plagued province of North Kivu, some 40 percent of the population is of Rwandan origin — from both the rival Tutsi and Hutu tribes.
Tensions already were high, fed by resentment of the wealth of Tutsi entrepreneurs of both Congolese and Rwandan origin before many Hutu perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide fled to Congo in 1994. They now lead the Rwandan militia whose numbers have swelled to include children of the perpetrators as well as recruits of Congolese Hutus and child conscripts.
Q. Will having Rwandan troops back in Congo help end the conflict?
A. Already the cooperation with Rwanda has led to the swift arrest of the biggest warlord in the region, Nkunda. Sadly, it is unlikely to end the intractable fighting in east Congo. If anything, the Rwandan presence could fuel conflict.
The joint operation with Ugandan and Sudanese troops in eastern Congo against rebels of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army has led the rebels to massacre hundreds of civilians since Christmas. Many Congolese still remember atrocities committed by Rwandan troops when they invaded in the '90s, with the tacit approval of the international community, to get rid of the Hutu militia. Instead, Rwandan troops started plundering Congo's minerals and refused to leave until they came under massive international pressure in 2002.
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