Congolese Tutsi rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda has been arrested in Rwandan territory after he tried to resist a joint Rwandan-Congolese military operation in eastern Congo, the operation's joint command said today.
The arrest of Nkunda, who has led a Tutsi rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since 2004, occurred during a joint Congolese-Rwandan military operation launched this week to hunt Rwandan Hutu rebels operating in Congo.
"The joint operations command . . . informs the public that the ex-general Laurent Nkunda was arrested on Thursday, January 22nd 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.
Congo's government said it would ask Rwanda to extradite Nkunda, adding his arrest could end the activity of one of the most powerful and feared eastern rebel groups, recently split by a leadership dispute.
A Congolese army colonel said Nkunda and rebels loyal to him had fought against Rwandan and Congolese troops when they arrived at Bunagana, a town on the border with Uganda in Congo's North Kivu province.
Nkunda's leadership of his Tutsi rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) group had been challenged this year by dissident rebel commanders who last week ended hostilities with the Congolese government.
The commanders' statement urged Tutsi fighters loyal to Nkunda to disarm and integrate into the Congo government army.
In the joint operation, more than 3,500 Rwandan troops have crossed the border into Congo to join Congolese government forces in trying to disarm Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels.
The operation, marking unprecedented cooperation between the Great Lakes neighbours after years of mutual suspicion and hostility, follows international pressure for an end to more than a decade of conflict in Congo's eastern borderlands.
Congo had in the past accused Rwanda's government of backing Nkunda, while Rwanda had denounced Congolese army cooperation with the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda).
The FDLR, which emerged after Rwanda's 1994 genocide, has been widely viewed as the root cause of more than a decade of violence in east Congo, which has included Nkunda's rival Tutsi insurgency.
Late last year, Nkunda led his CNDP fighters in a big anti-government offensive in North Kivu province which displaced more than a quarter of a million civilians, creating a humanitarian emergency in one of the world's most violent zones.
Congolese President Joseph Kabila's government welcomed the news of Nkunda's arrest.
"We are very happy with the arrest of General Laurent Nkunda. We ask the Rwandan government to respect international law and extradite General Nkunda to Congo," said Agriculture Minister Norbert Kantitima, who was in Goma with a delegation of government ministers.
Congo's government and international human rights groups have accused Nkunda and his fighters of war crimes, including mass killings and rapes and recruitment of child soldiers.
The United Nations, which has 17,000-strong peacekeeping force in Congo that has been largely excluded from the joint Congolese-Rwandan operation, has expressed fears that civilians could suffer if fighting breaks out.
Reuters