The Congo government reached an agreement (expected to be signed today) to end an insurgency that has forced more than 400,000 people from their homes.

“The conflict between the Congolese government and a rebel army led by Laurent Nkunda, a Congolese Tutsi general, was part of the deadly legacy of the Rwandan genocide, which ensnared Congo in a vast regional conflict that began in 1996 and has limped on to the present despite a peace agreement formally ending the war in Congo in 2003.

According to some estimates, the Congo war and its aftermath have killed more than four million people, mostly because of disease and hunger, more than any other conflict since World War II.”

Read the full piece here.

……………….

UPDATE: “Squabbling threatens to sink east Congo ceasefire”

KINSHASA (Reuters) – Last-minute disagreements over a peace deal between the Congolese government, Tutsi rebels and Mai Mai militia threatened to scupper efforts to end fighting in the country’s east on Tuesday.”