Militia adds to region’s troubles
Thousands of Hutu rebels with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, have brought instability and violence to eastern Congo for more than a decade.
The rebels fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo after ethnic Tutsis seized power in Rwanda in 1994, ending a genocide that Hutu soldiers and militia fighters had carried out against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
In eastern Congo, the rebels joined marauding armed groups fighting one another and terrorizing civilians.
In December, Congo and Rwanda agreed to a military plan to disarm the FDLR. Hundreds of Rwandan troops entered Congo early Tuesday to pursue the rebels.
The FDLR fighters are ensconced in the rugged terrain of North and South Kivu provinces, where they have been living off the land, subduing residents by force and financing themselves through illegal mining operations.
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