The UN envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo says a joint military operation against rebels will be concluded at the end of this month.

Mr Doss said during the first half of next year UN officials would propose a realistic plan for reconfiguring the 21,000-strong peacekeeping force in Congo, known as Monuc, which has been deployed in the country for the past 10 years.

Diplomats say a draft resolution submitted to the Security Council would extend the peacekeepers mandate by five months.

The trial of two alleged Congolese militia leaders charged with war crimes is due to begin at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

In Congo, With Rebels Now at Bay, Calm Erupts

BUKIMA, Congo — Jean-Marie Serundori’s eyes light up when he sees his old hulk of a friend Kabirizi.

War, displacement and bloodthirsty rebels had gotten between them.

But for the first time in years, this section of a venerated Congolese national park is rebel-free. Government wildlife rangers, like Mr. Serundori, are firmly in control — for the moment. And Kabirizi, a 500-pound silverback gorilla with a head as big as an engine block, seems to be flourishing in his kingdom of leaves.

“Haa mmm,” Mr. Serundori says, emitting a special gruntlike gorilla greeting that miraculously stops Kabirizi in midcharge. “Haa mmm.”

If the endangered mountain gorillas are any sign, things may finally be looking up in eastern Congo. In the past several weeks, Congo and its disproportionately mighty neighbor, Rwanda, have teamed up to sweep this area clear of rebels who had been at the center of a vicious proxy battle between the nations.

All articles below via IRINnews.

DRC: Hundreds of Rwandan troops to help disarm Hutu rebels

KINSHASA, 20 January 2009 (IRIN) - Hundreds of Rwandan troops entered eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 20 January to back a DRC operation against Rwandan Hutu rebels in the east of the country, officials said.

 "We officially invited the Rwandan army to take part in the operation, to disarm the Interahamwe, which is about to begin," said government spokesman Lambert Mende.

 He added that the operation was designed "to repatriate, voluntarily or by force, combatants of the FDLR [Forces démocratique pour la libération de Rwanda] or Interahamwe or [ensure they] have refugee status in line with Congolese or international law, which precludes them bearing arms".

DRC: Civilians suffer as Uganda takes on LRA

BUNIA, 20 January 2009 (IRIN) - About half the 100,000 people displaced amid a wave of atrocities in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the Ugandan army is leading an operation against Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, have no access to humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.

 "We estimate that half the displaced are beyond reach. There are no roads or airstrips. In some cases they are close to where the fighting is," Idrissa Conteh, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN in the north-eastern DRC town of Bunia.

 Conteh added that one of the largest concentrations of displaced people was in Doruma, close to the Sudanese border, with 14,000 people.

 "The situation there is catastrophic," he said, listing some of the priority needs as food, non-food items and healthcare.

DRC: Rwandan operation "not welcomed"

KINSHASA, 21 January 2009 (IRIN) - The arrival of some 2,000 Rwandan soldiers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to help the Army disarm Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Forces démocratique pour la libération du Rwanda (FDLR) has prompted fears of a new wave of civilian suffering. Below are some reactions to the development.

MONUC, the UN Mission in DRC
"The humanitarian community is deeply worried by the new deployment of troops in the areas of Goma and Rutshuru. This heightened military presence gives rise to fears of a new humanitarian crisis just as the ceasefire was allowing people to gradually return home and giving humanitarians easier access to several areas."

Jean-Paul Dietrich, MONUC military spokesman
"The FDLR are in Masisi but the Rwandans have instead gone to Rutshuru. We don't really know what they are doing there because our access has been blocked."

UN Children's Fund briefing
"Immediate consequences [are] restricted access to Rutshuru territory and withdrawal of most humanitarian actors from their main intervention zones in Masisi and Rutshuru.
Possible consequences in case of military operations:
- Massive population displacement. A contingency plan (July 2008) anticipates for 350,000 newly displaced persons in North Kivu during the first phase of a military operation; 300,000 persons in the province of South Kivu.
- Current humanitarian interventions for approximately one million persons will be suspended or hampered by the lack of access and permanent displacement of populations.
- The reaction of FDLR might entail exactions on the population and social structures and looting.
- Taking into account that the FDLR have been established in the area for 15 years, their relationship with the population is important. At the same time, the coalition is unlikely to respect the distinction between combatants and non-combatants.
- The reaction of the population with regard to the presence of the Rwandan army is as yet unknown, but could turn negatively toward the government."
 

Congolese rebel leader Gen Laurent Nkunda has told the BBC disciplinary action is being taken against a commander who tried to oust him.

DRC-SUDAN: Fifty feared dead in rebel attack

By Franz Wild

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- A Rwandan Hutu militia in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has taken control of a corridor vacated by dissident General Laurent Nkunda’s rebels, said international mediators should include it in peace talks.

“It’s a mistake not to speak to us, because we have a role to play in pacifying the area,” Colonel Edmond Garambe, the military spokesman for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, said in an interview yesterday in Masisi, 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. “’We are ready to respond to all questions. We will explain what we want.”

Laurent Nkunda has guaranteed a humanitarian corridor so the UN can reach Rutshuru ... for now.  But I can't believe that this will hold for long.  

BUNIA, 29 October 2008 (IRIN) - Airplanes may be needed to help some 6,000 people displaced during attacks by Ugandan rebels in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who are not accessible by humanitarian agencies, officials said.

...one resident Eric, 28, who sells motorbikes for a living, told IRIN he was torn between fleeing and protecting his business.

DRC: Many aid agencies quit Goma

Renegade General Laurent Nkunda urged government troops to follow suit.

Thousands of people have been fleeing an upsurge in fighting in the east in recent days, pouring into Goma.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the violence was "creating a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions" and urged a truce.

Gen Nkunda told the BBC: "We are not far from Goma but because there is a state of destabilisation in the town we decided in our movement to cease fire and unilaterally to proclaim a ceasefire."
 

These are in reverse chronological order: most recent first.

Firing across Congo-Rwanda border

Rebels 'seize' Congo border town

Battles rage near key Congo town

Government troops and UN forces have been involved in fierce battles against Tutsi rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Reports from the region suggest the strategic village of Kibumba, north of the regional capital Goma, is the latest to have fallen to the rebels.
 

In pictures: Thousands flee Congo fighting

UN joins battle with Congo rebels

UN peacekeeping forces are engaged in heavy fighting against rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The head of the UN mission, Alan Doss, told the BBC that helicopter gunships and armoured units were supporting the Congolese army north of Goma.

The clashes followed reports that hundreds of protesters had attacked the mission's headquarters, saying the UN was not doing enough to protect them.

DR Congo rebels seize army camp

Rebels fighting government troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo have captured a major army camp in the east of the country, UN peacekeepers say.

The rebels have also taken control of the headquarters of Virunga national park, home to some of the world's last remaining mountain gorilla

Thousands displaced in DR Congo

The UN says about 200,000 people have been displaced by renewed fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two months.

Previously the United Nations had reported half that number.

Concern has been rising in the east of DR Congo, where the army has been battling fighters loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda.

Kinshasa - The Democratic Republic of Congo's parliament passed a law on Saturday giving amnesty for acts of war and rebellion in the east of the country, which has been torn by years of armed conflict.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Completing the disarmament process and restoring state authority

To the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo:

1.  Concentrate the deployment of FARDC in the strongholds of the Front for National Integration (FNI) and the Patriotic Force of Resistance in Ituri (FRPI) militias and systematically replace it in the rest of the district with national police force officers including residents of Ituri.

2.  Order the military prosecutor to initiate official investigations into the alleged complicity of FARDC officers in the illegal exploitation of natural resources and mining in Ituri.

3.  Initiate a disciplinary investigation into Governor Médard Autsai’s administration of Province Orientale.

To the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC):

4.  Increase tactical and operational support to FARDC in order to facilitate the encirclement of the FRPI militia, limit its capacity for movement and restrict its access to external support.

5.  Create a civilian-military task force, mandated to implement an integrated strategy for finalising the disarmament of the FNI and FRPI militias that combines sensitisation and pressure and enjoys the backing of local community leaders.

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ninjacooter

Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War

The UN and the army deny co-operating with the rebel groups in North Kivu.

But a UN source told the BBC that the Congolese Mai Mai militia and Hutus had come together as the Front for the Liberation of North Kivu.

The FLNK says it patrols with the army in eastern DR Congo to counter renegade general, Laurent Nkunda, where recent instability has displaced some 300,000.