Rwandan soldiers enter DR Congo
Tuesday, 20th January 2009 comments(0)
 The FDLR has been in DR Congo for almost 15 ye |
Rwandan troops have entered eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for a joint operation with the Congolese against a Rwandan Hutu militia.
A UN spokesman told the BBC about 2,000 Rwandan troops had crossed the border.
DR Congo and Rwanda agreed last month to take joint action against the FDLR militia, whose leaders have been linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Correspondents say the FDLR's presence in eastern DR Congo lies at the heart of the region's instability.
Rwanda twice invaded its much larger neighbour during the 1990s, saying it was pursuing the FDLR.
But analysts say much of the fighting is also motivated by eastern DR Congo's rich mineral resources, which all sides have been accused of plundering.
The BBC's Thomas Fessy in the Congolese capital Kinshasa says diplomatic and UN sources fear a humanitarian disaster because of a possible lack of military planning and consultation with the international community.
Jean-Paul Dietrich, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, told our correspondent that Rwandan troops had entered North Kivu province near the city of Goma and were heading for the town of Rutshuru.
The aim of the joint operation is to defeat the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), whose rebel forces are estimated to number more than 6,000.
'Unjust cause'
Ignace Murwanashyaka, chairman of the FDLR, said his militia had not been involved in clashes so far but were not afraid of the joint Rwandan and Congolese operation.
 | FORCES AROUND GOMA  CNDP: Gen Nkunda's Tutsi rebels - 6,000 fighters FDLR: Rwandan Hutus - 6-7,000 Mai Mai: pro-government militia - 3,500 Monuc: UN peacekeepers - 6,000 in North Kivu, including about 1,000 in Goma (17,000 nationwide) DRC army - 90,000 (nationwide) Source: UN, military experts  |
Speaking from Germany, he told the AFP news agency that the FDLR wanted dialogue with the government and that "a coalition for an unjust cause" could not achieve its goal.
Action against the Hutu group is a key demand of DR Congo's Tutsi rebel CNDP (National Congress for the Defence of the People), which declared a ceasefire earlier this month.
On-and-off fighting involving the CNDP, FDLR, the army and pro-government militias has forced more than one million people in North Kivu to flee their homes since late 2006.
Some 250,000 people have been displaced since August 2008, when the CNDP rebels led by Gen Laurent Nkunda resumed fighting with the Congolese army.
Last Friday, commanders within the CNDP - which says it is protecting Congolese Tutsis from attack by the FDLR - announced a ceasefire.
Before last month's deal was signed, the UN accused Rwanda and DR Congo of fighting a proxy war in the region - with Rwanda backing Gen Nkunda and DR Congo of working with the FDLR.
Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, before Tutsi rebels led by current President Paul Kagame took control of the country.