North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
May 19, 2009
Congo Situation Update: North Kivu
Don’t blink. If you look away for a moment here in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, everything changes.
The rebel force run by Laurent Nkunda (National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP), that just weeks ago was battling the Congolese government and poised to capture Goma itself, is no more. Its soldiers have been integrated into the same army they fought in the hills of North Kivu for years, the charismatic and once seemingly untouchable rebel commander arrested by his one-time ally, Rwanda.
Last month, Rwanda and Congo launched a surprise joint military operation to fight the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FDLR) and flush them out of the jungles, with some success in demobilizing – or killing – a portion of this rag tag rebel force that increasingly seems to lack a motivating political purpose.
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