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mark61
23-01-09, 11:42
Gen Laurent Nkunda, leader of the strongest rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been arrested in Rwanda.

He crossed the border after resisting a joint Rwandan-Congolese operation to arrest him, both countries say.

Correspondents say it is a startling about-turn by Rwanda, which had been accused of backing Gen Nkunda.

Some 4,000 Rwandan troops this week entered DR Congo to help fight rebel forces in the area.

Correspondents say Gen Nkunda's arrest removes one obstacle to peace but other rebel groups remain active.

BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says Gen Nkunda has been caught in the rapidly changing diplomatic situation in Central Africa.

Gen Nkunda had been Rwanda's ally in eastern DR Congo - a Tutsi, like Rwanda's leaders, he guarded their Western flank against attacks from the Hutu forces who fled there after the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

But in mid-November Rwanda shifted its position, announcing it would work with the Congolese to destroy the Hutu rebels.

Gen Nkunda did not back the new alliance and so became an impediment to Rwandan plans in the region, causing Rwanda to turn on him, our correspondent says.

The decision earlier this month by a group of Gen Nkunda's top commanders to break away and join forces with government troops gave them their opportunity, he adds.

Henry Boshoff, an analyst from South Africa's Institute for Security Studies, told the BBC that following intense diplomatic pressure in recent months, Rwanda was obliged to arrest Gen Nkunda.

The next step is for the joint Congolese-Rwandan force to tackle the FDLR Hutu rebels, some of whose leaders are accused of involvement in the 1994 slaughter in Rwanda of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

But Mr Boshoff says this may not be easy, as they have resisted previous attempts to disarm them.

Arrest warrant

The rebel leader was detained in Rwanda after troops converged on his stronghold in the Congolese town of Bunagana.

"The ex-general Laurent Nkunda was arrested on Thursday 22 January at 2230 hours while he was fleeing on Rwandan territory after he had resisted our troops at Bunagana with three battalions," a Congolese-Rwandan official statement said.

Rebels with him were being urged to disarm, reports said.

Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga, told the BBC he welcomed the arrest.

"I think it is a good achievement for peace and security in this area and this region of Great Lakes," he said.

DR Congo has issued an international warrant for Gen Nkunda's arrest following past accusations that his forces had committed atrocities and Mr Omalanga said he wanted Rwanda to extradite him to face justice in DR Congo.

Rwanda has not yet said whether it will hand over its former ally.

Some of Gen Nkunda's forces - perhaps as many as 2,000 - are still said to be loyal to him.

The question now is whether they will fight, or whether they will join the new consensus and become integrated into the Congolese army, correspondents say.

The CNDP launched a major offensive in August 2008, which displaced more than a quarter of a million people in North Kivu and raised fears of both a humanitarian crisis and a wider regional war.

Correspondents say this may have been Gen Nkunda's undoing, by bringing huge international pressure on all sides to end the conflict in DR Congo.

Human rights group have accused CNDP forces, along with those of the government, of numerous killings, rapes and torture.

All sides in the Congolese conflict have also been accused of using the fighting as a pretext to loot eastern DR Congo's rich resources of minerals such as gold, tin and coltan, used in mobile phones.

Some five million people are estimated to have died as a result of almost 15 years of conflict in DR Congo, following the Rwandan genocide.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7846339.stm

Het niet-bestaande leger van Congo kon Nkunda niet aan, MONUC was er te schijterig voor; de Rwandezen moesten het weer opknappen. Blijkbaar deal gesloten om zowel die Hutu-club als Nkunda op te rollen.

Grote schoonmaak is eindelijk begonnen? Ach, er zal wel weer wat fout gaan.

knuppeltje
23-01-09, 11:53
Gen Laurent Nkunda, leader of the strongest rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been arrested in Rwanda.


Stuur hem maar Den Haag.

knuppeltje
24-01-09, 10:45
Gaat het hier endelijk eens over Afrika, en waar blijven nu al die zeikerds die alsmaar klaagden over het totale gebrek aan aandacht hiervoor?

Eke
24-01-09, 10:56
*Rebels with him were being urged to disarm, reports said.

*Blijkbaar deal gesloten om zowel die Hutu-club als Nkunda op te rollen.

*Grote schoonmaak is eindelijk begonnen?

* Het is helaas jammer dat veel van zijn mannen nog loslopen in de wildernis. Gisteravond was het nog de vraag wat zij zouden gaan doen..gewoon maar stoppen of zonder hun leider verder vechten.
En vanmorgen, nadat zij er een nachtje over geslapen hebben, weten ze het nog niet helemaal...:hihi:

* Ja, die deal is gesloten met Rwanda

* laten we het hopen .....en goed opletten of en waar 'we' kunnen helpen

knuppeltje
24-01-09, 11:18
* Ja, die deal is gesloten met Rwanda

Laat ons maar hopen dat er nog veel meer samenwerking komt tussen die landen daar, dat lijkt me heel hard nodig.

Maryama_Me
24-01-09, 21:44
Met de val van Nkunda is nog helemaal niet gezegd dat de huidige oorlog ten einde is helaas.

Het zou zomaar kunnen dat er weer een nieuwe oorlog ontstaat.Zucht.....

mark61
26-01-09, 08:12
Congo warlord in landmark trial

Former Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga is due to go on trial shortly at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the use of child soldiers.

Mr Lubanga faces six charges of recruiting and using children to fight during the DR Congo's brutal five-year conflict that ended in 2003.

Prosecutors say child soldiers were used to kill members of a rival ethnic group, or as Mr Lubanga's bodyguards.

The case is the first to come to trial before the ICC in The Hague.

This follows a seven-month delay, as judges and prosecutors at the world's first permanent war crimes court disputed confidential evidence.

Mr Lubanga, who is expected to enter not-guilty pleas, insists he was trying to bring peace to Ituri, a region in eastern Congo wracked by years of conflict between rival groups seeking to control its vast mineral wealth.

He was the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and its armed wing at the time of the alleged crimes in 2002-2003, and still has strong support among his Hema community in Ituri.

Goed nieuws gaat door. Op den duur moet het wat kunnen worden. Als tout Kinshasa met geld en macht ook meteen gearresteerd wordt dan. :hihi:

knuppeltje
26-01-09, 12:28
Met de val van Nkunda is nog helemaal niet gezegd dat de huidige oorlog ten einde is helaas.

Het zou zomaar kunnen dat er weer een nieuwe oorlog ontstaat.Zucht.....

Inderdaad, maar daarom moet er dus op alle terreinen ook veel meer samenwerking tussen die landen komen.
Als nu die Nkunda - en daaropvolgend meer van die grote misdadigers daar, een echt proces krijgt, met een serieuze straf, dan kan dat daarvoor een hele steun zijn.

Soldim
26-01-09, 13:30
Gaat het hier endelijk eens over Afrika, en waar blijven nu al die zeikerds die alsmaar klaagden over het totale gebrek aan aandacht hiervoor?

Je hebt het niet begrepen ... we wilden net zo veel over dat andere conflict horen als we over Afrika hoorden. :slaap:

Maryama_Me
26-01-09, 15:33
Inderdaad, maar daarom moet er dus op alle terreinen ook veel meer samenwerking tussen die landen komen.
Als nu die Nkunda - en daaropvolgend meer van die grote misdadigers daar, een echt proces krijgt, met een serieuze straf, dan kan dat daarvoor een hele steun zijn.

Ik hoop het Knuppeltje, al die zinloze oorlogen.

Het is verschrikkelijk voor de burgerbevolking en heel jammer voor zo'n mooi land.