Rwanda arrests Congo rebel leader Nkunda

Human rights groups accuse Gen. Laurent Nkunda of involvement in several massacres in Democratic Republic of Congo.

By Arthur Bright

from the January 24, 2009 edition

Rwandan and Democratic Republic of Congo officials announced Friday the arrest of Gen. Laurent Nkunda, a Congolese Tutsi rebel leader wanted for war crimes in Congo (formerly Zaire).

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that General Nkunda was captured in Rwanda Thursday after being chased across the Congo-Rwanda border by joint forces from both countries.

The DR Congo army and Rwandan army "inform the public of the arrest of deposed general Laurent Nkunda Thursday at 10:30 pm while fleeing in Rwandan territory after putting up brief resistance," DR Congo police inspector general John Numbi said.

A Rwandan army official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP Nkunda was being held at a "secret location" in Rwanda.

A source among the remaining rebel forces said he was under house arrest in Gisenyi, near the Congolese border.

Congo issued an arrest warrant for Nkunda in 2005 for war crimes committed by the rebel faction he led, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). Nkunda and the CNDP sought to overthrow the Congolese government, led by Joseph Kabila, and claim to be protecting the Tutsi people of eastern Congo from Hutu militias that fled Rwanda.

The BBC writes that Nkunda's arrest is a "startling about-turn by Rwanda, which had been accused of backing Gen Nkunda."

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.

Nkunda's position was complicated by the departure of Bosco Ntaganda, Nkunda's former chief of staff, reports the Associated Press. Mr. Ntaganda formed a splinter movement of the CNDP and announced last week that his new group would cooperate with the Congolese army in hunting Hutu rebels, with the goal of eventually integrating into Congo's military.

Ntaganda may have turned on his former boss because he was afraid months of growing distrust might have prompted Nkunda to turn him over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, where he is wanted for the alleged forced conscription of child soldiers in the northern Ituri region five years ago.

Though details of the agreement to allow Rwandan troops on Congo soil have not been made public, analysts speculate the government may have promised not to hand Ntaganda over for extradition in exchange for his cooperation.

Rwanda has been under international pressure for months to use its influence over Tutsi rebels to end the conflict and the breakthrough agreement may have been borne out of the split within Nkunda's movement that both Congo and Rwanda were quick to exploit.

The Times (London) adds that his arrest may also be due to his allies' irritation with "his erratic, narcissistic style – promising one thing in media interviews before contradicting himself days later."

It may be that he has fallen out with too many of his senior lieutenants or that his arrest was the price Rwanda was willing to pay in order to send troops over the border to clear out Hutu militias hiding in Congolese forests.

Either way the man known as the Butcher of Kisangani appears to have lost support in key places.

"Nkunda didn't realise that he had lost political capital with a series of foolish moves," said a UN source in the regional capital of Goma. "He thought he was indispensable and that he could do whatever he pleased."

Experts note that Nkunda's captures doesn't mean that the conflict in Congo will end soon, writes Bloomberg.

"Nkunda's arrest does not necessarily spell the end of the CNDP, that depends on what compromise can be found with Bosco and the remaining leaders," said [Jason] Stearns, a former senior researcher at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

"And even if his movement is disbanded, there are many underlying issues that must be addressed, including land reform and ethnic antagonisms, in order to consolidate peace in the region," Stearns said in an e-mailed response to questions.

It may mean that Nkunda will be brought to justice for war crimes, though. The International Herald Tribune reports that human right groups say Nkunda was involved in mass killings while part of a different rebel faction in 2002. They also say that the CNDP has carried out several massacres since Nkunda founded the group. As a result, Reuters writes, human rights groups "said they would be watching how Rwanda and Congo dealt with Nkunda."

"Nkunda and troops under his command have certainly committed serious atrocities, and he needs to be held to account in a trial that meets fair trial standards," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Congo researcher with Human Rights Watch.

"He must be brought back to Congo and face justice for his acts, because he is responsible for many deaths due to the war he waged," said local Congolese pastor Crispin Kombozi.

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