Q&A: DR Congo conflict

A damning report by UN-commissioned experts has said that large-scale rape, murder and plunder has continued unabated in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo - despite a concerted effort to rid the area of rebels.

The current unrest comes after years of fighting in the area including a devastating war in which more than five million people lost their lives - the deadliest conflict since World War II.

What is the fighting about?

DR Congo is extremely wealthy - and extremely big. Similar in size to Western Europe, it abounds with diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt and zinc.

The country also has supplies of coltan, which is used in mobile phones and other electronic gadgets, and cassiterite, used in food packaging.

WHO'S WHO IN EASTERN DRC FDLR: Rwandan Hutu militia, controls gold and tin mining areas - 6,000-8,000 fighters CNDP: Tutsi-led group, former rebels under command of Bosco Ntaganda now integrated into the army, but accused of operating as a parallel militia - 6,000 men Monuc: 18,000 UN peacekeepers nationwide Congolese army: 50,000 soldiers in east (Circa 100,000 nationwide) Sources: UN Group of Experts/UN/military experts Country profile: DR Congo Timeline: DR Congo DR Congo: Key facts

Unfortunately for the people of DR Congo, its resource wealth has rarely been harnessed for their benefit.

This vast country has hardly any roads or railways, while the health and education systems lie in ruins.

Instead, the natural riches have attracted rapacious adventurers, unscrupulous corporations, vicious warlords and corrupt governments and divided the population between competing ethnic groups.

In the early 20th Century Belgian forces arrived and enslaved millions, while King Leopold ruled the country as his personal fiefdom.

During a painful independence struggle in the 1960s the vast country almost disintegrated as regions fought each other.

But Joseph Mobutu seized power in 1965 and set about crushing internal rebellions and unifying the nation - eventually changing its name to Zaire.

However, Mobutu was soon seduced by wealth and once he controlled most of the country and gained a level of stability and prosperity, he began using the country's riches for one thing - to ensure he remained in power.

As his rule went on, his plunder continued and the country gradually slipped out of his control.

The 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda hastened his downfall and helped plunge DR Congo into the deadliest conflict in African history.

Why did Rwanda's genocide affect DR Congo so badly?

Eastern DR Congo has porous borders.

After Rwandan's genocidal Hutu regime was overthrown, more than two million Hutus are thought to have fled into DR Congo fearing reprisals against them by the new, Tutsi-dominated government.

Among them were many of the militiamen responsible for the genocide.

General Laurent Nkunda, a Tutsi, was a pivotal figure in the later conflict

They quickly allied themselves with Mobutu's government and began to attack DR Congo's sizeable population of ethnic Tutsis, who had lived in the country for generations.

Rwanda's Tutsi government started to back rival militias, fighting both the Hutu militias and government troops.

The Tutsi militias, allied to other local groups backed by Uganda, eventually marched on Kinshasa and overthrew Mobutu's government.

They installed Laurent Kabila as president and he renamed the country - from Zaire to DR Congo.

But Kabila failed to expel the Hutu militia and tiny Rwanda, which had put him in power, soon sent a new force to oust him.

Kabila then called in help from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola and for the next five years all six countries, and others, fought a proxy war on Congolese land.

All sides were accused of using the cover of the war to loot the country's riches.

More than five million people died in the war and its aftermath - mostly from starvation or disease.

Although the war was declared over in 2003, the east of the country continues to be unstable

Has DR Congo achieved any kind of peace?

Most of the country has now found peace and the central government has slowly reasserted control.

The country even started to live up to its name by having the first democratic elections in more than four decades, which saw the late Laurent's Kabila's son, Joseph, elected as president.

But a proxy war between Rwanda and the Kinshasa government continued in the east until the end of 2008.

Many Congolese have fled their homes after coming under attack

Notorious Tutsi warlord Gen Laurent Nkunda - who most analysts believe was backed by Rwanda - waged a campaign to destroy Hutu rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

He accused the government of backing the FDLR.

A sea-change in the conflict came about in late 2008 when Rwanda and DR Congo joined forces to combat the FDLR in the provinces of North and South Kivu.

As part of the deal Gen Nkunda was taken out of the country and put under house arrest in Rwanda - where he remains.

But the bitter conflict has continued unabated and Congolese government troops, backed by thousands of UN peacekeepers, have failed to defeat the FDLR rebels.

Reports of mass rapes, killings and other atrocities committed by rebels and government troops continue to pour in.

What is the UN doing?

The UN's current mission in DR Congo, called Monuc, is entering its tenth year.

At one point it was the biggest peacekeeping operation in the world, with almost 20,000 personnel on the ground.

The UN has thousands of peacekeepers but still receives huge criticism

It is mandated to protect civilians and also help in the reconstruction of the country.

But as the battles in the east have rumbled on, the allegiances and intentions of the major players have become increasingly murky.

Warlords have been absorbed into the army but are widely accused of carrying out atrocities and running their own personal militias.

Army commanders have been accused of supplying the FDLR - the very rebels they are supposed to be fighting.

Human rights groups say the army and the FDLR are working together to exploit mines.

And Human Rights Watch has suggested the UN is risking becoming complicit in atrocities against civilians.

A report by UN-commissioned experts said UN involvement had done nothing to quell the violence.

It says rebels continue to kill and plunder natural resources with impunity and claims the rebels are supported by an international crime network stretching through Africa to Western Europe and North America.

Rights groups have warned that it would be impossible to defeat the FDLR without tackling their backers.

Analysts say the leaked report has put the Security Council under pressure to revisit the whole nature of its hugely expensive involvement in DR Congo.

Meanwhile, aid agencies continue to warn that eastern provinces stand on the brink of another humanitarian disaster.