Q&A: DR Congo conflict

Former enemies are supposed to form a new, unified army

Tension is high in the border area between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Rwanda has twice sent troops into its larger neighbour in recent years but the two countries have signed a peace deal, supposed to end five years of war in DR Congo, which cost some three million lives and dragged in at least five other armies.

What is the two countries' problem?

It all stems from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Some of the militias responsible for killing some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus fled across the border to DR Congo.

Rwanda wants the Congolese to stop these Interahamwe militias launching attacks on Rwanda from DR Congo's territory and has twice sent its own troops in to do the job themselves.

In 1997, this ended up with Rwandan-backed rebels toppling the Congolese leader Mobutu Sese Seko.

A year later, they tried to replace their former ally and new leader, Laurent Kabila, accusing him of now backing the remnants of the Interahamwe force.

But this time, they were blocked by troops from Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia and a four-year stand-off ensued.

The United Nations accused senior political and military officials from Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe of using their intervention in DR Congo as a cover to loot its huge mineral wealth - especially diamonds.

What complicates matters further is that there are many different militia groups - in the east - each claiming to be a self-defence group for their community - but whose real aim is often to extract money for warlords who control them.

What about the peace deal?

All of the countries and rebel groups involved in the DR Congo war agreed to stop fighting and a power-sharing government was set up.

This seemed to be going fairly well until June 2004, when a commander from the former Rwandan-backed RCD rebel group captured the Congolese border town of Bukavu.

General Laurent Nkunda said he was trying to stop a "genocide" of the Banyamulenge - a group of Congolese Tutsis.

After a week, Gen Nkunda withdrew and the UN said there was no evidence to support his claims of genocide.

But thousands of Banyamulenge fled, fearing reprisals when the army retook control.

Confidential UN documents seen by the BBC say that Gen Nkunda is Rwanda's military chief in DR Congo, through whom they control much of the area.

Now, there is fighting north of Bukavu, around Goma, where the RCD was always based.

This time, the Congolese government says that Rwandan troops have crossed the border and are clashing with the DR Congo army.

Rwanda has denied this but has repeatedly threatened to send its troops into DR Congo, unless the Interahamwe are disarmed - this was part of the deal under which Rwanda withdrew its troops from Congolese territory.

Some say the fighting is again between the former RCD rebels and the army, they were supposed to have joined.

So are there Rwandan troops in DR Congo?

Many people believe they are there but the UN says it does not have conclusive proof.

The Banyamulenge speak Kinyarwanda, the same language as in Rwanda but some of the "rebels" involved in the fighting in North Kivu do not speak any Congolese languages, leading to suspicions they are Rwandan troops.

The border is very long and porous and covered in jungle, so it is easy for small numbers of people to slip across.

Is the peace deal unravelling?

The RCD still has a vice-president and other ministers in the unity government.

But most of the east in unstable, especially the provinces of Ituri and North and South Kivu.

Rwanda's role is key. If it invades again, there is likely to be a real escalation in fighting, if not, peace could be restored.

President Kabila has accused the Rwandans of trying to keep control of eastern DR Congo, in order to loot its mineral resources.

But the Rwandans say they are just scapegoats for Congolese squabbles.

What are the UN peacekeepers doing?

That is the question being asked all over DR Congo.

Some 5,000 extra UN troops are being sent to the east, in addition to the 10,000 already in DR Congo.

But they say that they did not have the military capacity or the mandate to resist the rebel advance.

But many Congolese say they just did not want to risk getting involved and after Bukavu was captured, they vented their anger on UN targets across the country.

How did the war end?

All sides got tired of fighting and it became obvious that no-one could secure a military victory.

Western donors and South Africa also put pressure on those involved to end the war.

Britain threatened to reduce aid to Rwanda and Uganda unless they withdrew their forces and stopped backing local proxies.

South Africa hosted months of talks between the various Congolese groups and separate negotiations between the foreign governments involved, which finally culminated in this agreement to share power and organise multi-party elections.

Under the deal, elections are due next year but in such a vast country which is not linked by roads or railways, that seemed optimistic - even before the latest fighting.

Why is peace in DR Congo important?

DR Congo has always experienced either conflict or dictatorship since independence from Belgium in 1960.

Apart from for the 50 million Congolese, peace in DR Congo would also brighten prospects for the whole of central and southern Africa.

The Congolese war is closely tied to conflicts in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.

There were hopes that peace could spread to those countries from DR Congo - but that could also apply to the fighting.