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Rwandan military enters DR Congo | Rwandan military enters DR Congo |
(20 minutes later) | |
Rwandan troops have entered eastern Democratic Republic of Congo under a pact with the Congolese government to tackle a Rwandan Hutu militia. | Rwandan troops have entered eastern Democratic Republic of Congo under a pact with the Congolese government to tackle a Rwandan Hutu militia. |
A UN spokesman told the BBC about 2,000 Rwandan troops had crossed the border. | A UN spokesman told the BBC about 2,000 Rwandan troops had crossed the border. |
DR Congo and Rwanda agreed last month to take joint action against the FDLR militia, whose leaders have been linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. | |
Correspondents say the FDLR's presence in eastern DR Congo lies at the heart of the region's instability. | Correspondents say the FDLR's presence in eastern DR Congo lies at the heart of the region's instability. |
Rwanda has twice invaded its much larger neighbour saying it is pursuing the FDLR. | |
The BBC's Thomas Fessy in the Congolese capital Kinshasa says diplomatic and UN sources fear a humanitarian disaster because of a possible lack of military planning and consultation with the international community. | |
Jean-Paul Dietrich, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, told our correspondent that Rwandan troops had entered North Kivu province and were heading for the town of Rutshuru. | |
The aim of the joint operation is to defeat the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), whose rebel forces are estimated to number more than 6,000. | |
Action against the Hutu group is a key demand of DR Congo's Tutsi rebel CNDP (National Congress for the Defence of the People), which declared a ceasefire last month. | Action against the Hutu group is a key demand of DR Congo's Tutsi rebel CNDP (National Congress for the Defence of the People), which declared a ceasefire last month. |
On and off fighting between the CNDP, FDLR, the army, and pro-government militias has forced more than one million residents of North Kivu province to flee their homes since late 2006. | |
Some 250,000 people have been displaced since August 2008, when the CNDP rebels led by Laurent Nkunda resumed fighting with the Congolese army. | |
Last Friday, commanders within the CNDP - which says it is protecting Congolese Tutsis from attack by the FDLR - announced a ceasefire. |