Word: kabila
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...Given the mix of altruistic and self-serving motives, it's not surprising Sarkozy's trip is inspiring as equal measures of hope and suspicion. The French president kicked off his three-nation swing through the Great Lakes region in Kinshasa, where he praised President Joseph Kabila for reaching agreement in January with leaders of neighboring Rwanda to launch joint military operations against militia groups fighting both regimes from strongholds in eastern Congo. The result, Sarkozy noted, has been an a halt to the massacres that have forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee the area. (See pictures...
...from the Rwandan genocide has continued to plague Eastern Congo, where it has produced periodic massacres in the intervening years. Deep-seated hostilities across the region's fragile borders have prompted many in Congo to denounce the January agreement which allows Rwandan troops to operate inside the DRC, accusing Kabila of joining arms with the Rwandan enemy and openly challenging his legitimacy to rule. Sarkozy intended his praise of Kabila as a means of boosting the embattled DRC president, and the same time as promoting his proposal for new economic and industrial partnerships in the region. (Read a TIME cover...
...original version of this story misidentified Congo's president Joseph Kabila as Laurent Kabila...
...Paul Kagame of Rwanda. But last month something happened that seems to have ended that debate. Congo and Rwanda joined forces. Kagame's troops flushed out and arrested Nkunda, then helped facilitate a cease-fire with his forces in the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). Kabila's government in Kinshasa made a deal to protect the new CNDP leader, Bosco Ntaganda (who is wanted for war crimes), and joined Rwandan forces in fighting the FDLR. Their joint effort has been under way for several weeks, and to date, there have been no civilian deaths...
...Hard choices remain. Will Nkunda, for example, be extradited from Rwanda? Kabila has promised that Rwandan troops will be out of Congo by March, but every day that they stay - and the thrill of Nkunda's capture recedes - it becomes more difficult politically for him to sustain his bold initiative. None of this will be easy...