Rwanda arrests Congo rebel leader Nkunda
(Read article summary)Human rights groups accuse Gen. Laurent Nkunda of involvement in several massacres in Democratic Republic of Congo.
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.
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."
