Was Nkunda a victim of a financial squeeze on Kigali?

A few days after being arrested, DRC rebel leader Laurent Nkunda remains in detention in neighboring Rwanda, his former backers. Kinshasa wants him extradited but Kigali claims that there's no extradition treaty between the two countries. Despite the recent military cooperation between the two countries, it seems Rwanda is eager to find reasons NOT to hand over Nkunda to Congolese officials. One can only speculate that they are afraid what tales Nkunda might tell in open court if given the opportunity.

In an interview with Radio France Internationale, Belgian academic Philippe Reyntjens speculates that the Kagame regime's turning against Nkunda is related to last month's release of a damning UN report that, among other things, openly accused Rwanda of backing Nkunda's forces. Reyntjens pointed out that some donors had suspended aid to Kigali and that the country's biggest foreign backer, Britain, was threatening to follow suit.

I'm loathe to use the word 'victim' to describe Nkunda but it appears international pressure on Rwanda to remove him from the scene succeeded.

Nkunda arrested

DR Congo rebel leader Laurent Nkunda was arrested by Rwandan troops. The arrest came only days after the launching of a joint military operation between the Congolese and Rwandan national armies (a mission not universally appreciated), after years of tension between the two governments. The DRC has called for Nkunda's extradition.

Rwanda was long accused of being his benefactor. Nkunda was originally a military leader in the RPF, the movement now in power in Kigali. Nkunda then joined the forces of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, which overthrown the Mobutu regime and whose son is now the DRC's head of state.

However, a BBC analysis believes that Nkunda's big mistake was launching a vicious military offensive last October around Goma that caused widespread international condemnation. The BBC analyst believes that this opened the space for a new relationship between Kinshasa and Kigali.

In mid-January, a group of soldiers part of Nkunda's movement claimed to have ousted him as leader.

A week later, he's in detention.

Some are optimistic that Nkunda's departure from the scene may lead to peace in the eastern DRC, a region devastated by war and instability for over a dozen years. But with the massive 'interest' and always murky activities in the country's mineral resources, caution is prudent.

Rebel splinter group to end DRC fighting?

Not sure what to make of this but... according to Rwanda's New Times, a DR Congo rebel group that recently claimed to have ousted its leader Laurent Nkunda announced that they were ending their hostilities against the central government in Kinshasa "with immediate effect."

A statement signed by leaders of the coup against Nkunda read, "The CNDP requests the government of the DRC the setting up of a joint commission to implement the reintegration into the FARDC (government army)."

DRC rebels sack Nkunda?

As if the region didn't need more chaos, elements of the main rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo claim to have fired their leader, Gen. Laurent Nkunda. A statement made to the BBC claim that that general was guilty of "bad leadership" and "bad governance". A spokesman for Nkunda denied the claim.

Analysts point out that Nkunda's group, which has been accused of widespread human rights abuses and war crimes, was one of the few factions in the war that actually spoke with one voice and that a split in the organization would make negotiations even more difficult and the situation more dangerous.

Peace deal signed to (hopefully) end deadliest conflict since WWII

A peace deal has been signed that will hopefully end the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The deal was signed by the DRC's government, the pro-government Mai Mai militia and dissident rebel chief Laurent Nkunda.

Some observers called the deal historic but others were skeptical.

Africa analyst Muzong Kodi at Chatham House in London told the BBC's Focus on Africa program that, "The underlying problem is the resource war and if any of the groups disband other groups are going to replace them."

Kodi added that impunity is another major obstacle.

The deal was signed a day after the International Rescue Committee estimated that war and its resulting chaos had caused some 5.4 million Congolese deaths in the last decade.

The IRC has concluded that there are 45,000 more deaths, every month, than would be expected from the average, already poor conditions in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.

Many of the deaths are caused by conditions like malaria, malnutrition and pneumonia, which are easily treatable... when public health infrastructure is available.

IRC noted that the DRC's vastness, it's the size of western Europe, exacerbated the astronomical death toll. In geographically smaller countries, aid agencies could better concentrate their efforts.

Nkunda calls for ceasefire after breaking previous one

Laurent Nkunda, an infamous warlord leader in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has called for a ceasefire after five days of clashes between his forces and the national army.

"We are asking for it to stop so we can talk, because this is a problem that can only be resolved through dialogue. Arms will not solve anything," he said.

This came days after Nkunda himself had broken the previous ceasefire agreement, according to the UN mission in the country MONUC.

It is doubtful that Nkunda actually wants a ceasefire and this is probably just a scheme for his battered forces to buy time.

The man who controls the eastern DRC

The UK Independent has a disturbing look at DR Congo rebel leader Laurent Nkunda who promises to obstruct the country's fragile peace process. Though he insists that he's only protecting the Tutsis in the eastern DRC.

Regardless, his influence is not to be underestimated.

Everything here is controlled by him," explains Dominic Bofondo, the administrator of Rutshuru, pointing on a map to the western half the territory he is meant to govern. "He has all his own tax collectors out there. We tried to send ours there but they were beaten and they fled. For the past four months, we have not been receiving any reports from our people."

DRC gov't warns Nkunda

South Africa's SABC reports that the Democratic Republic of the Congo's government has issued a stern warning to rebel leader Laurent Nkunda. Defense Minister Tshitez Diemu told the former DRC army general to stop threatening a return to war in North Kivu province, in the unstable east of the country. Nkunda has rejected the process of integrating rebel groups into the national armed forces.