Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda arrested
Updated on 23 January 2009
The Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has been arrested by soldiers from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Tutsi leader was seized just south of the Rwandan border with Congo, late on Thursday evening.
Reports suggest initial attempts were made to capture Nkunda in the town of Bunagana - a rebel stronghold on the border with Uganda.
Nkunda is held responsible for the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Congolese civilians resulting from last year's fighting.
Laurant Nkunda was known for his arrogant swagger, twirling his eagle headed cane. Leader of the Tutsi militia in Eastern Congo, whose attacks on Hutus, caused a quarter of a million people to be displaced late last year.
But now, he has been arrested. Thanks to an unprecedented joint operation between Rwandan and Congolese forces - two countries - historically enemies.
But it's thought a deal was done. Rwanda agrees to arrest Nkunda, in return for the Congo allowing 4,000 Rwanda soldiers across the border to confront the FDLR Hutu militia.
This morning aid agencies have been meeting about just what this arrest will mean for their humanitarian work.
The man set to replace Nkunda has an equally dubious human rights record - Bosco Ntaganda, was a former chief of staff of Nkunda who recently formed a splinter group and announced he would work together with the Congolese army against the Hutu militia.
So it seems Laurent Nkunda may have been betrayed by his former commanders, frustrated perhaps by his growing delusions of grandeur - and because he had recently overstretched his troops and his ambitions - by trying to take over the city of Goma.
The UN, which has 17,000 troops in the area, knew nothing of this arrest and are now urgently attempting to reassess the conflict in the area.
