Congolese Peace Agreement

There was an agreement reached today between General Nkunda's rebel forces and the Congolese government. The Congo War began in 1996 and has been responsible for the deaths of over 4 million people, mostly from disease and starvation. Though it officially ended in 2003, horrific violence has continued in Eastern Congo in which systematic rape has been a principal means of warfare. Fighting has pitted General Nkunda's rebel insurgency versus government-aligned militias and Rwandan-Hutu militia. One of the reasons Nkunda has refused to stand down is the perceived threat to Tutsi's from such Rwandan militias that were responsible for the 1994 slaughter of 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu's. It is difficult to determine the extent to which the recent peace agreement will yield tangible results. Stay tuned for more and check out the NYTimes article for more detail.