Unrest in North Kivu

The offensive by the CNDP (National Congress for Defense of the People - Congolese Tutsis) rebel group was extremely aggressive this week....they seized control of Virunga Park HQ, and Congolese army and UN compounds. They are getting propped up by the Rwandan gov't. The Congolese national army is a big problem. As soon as the CNDP starts firing, they run to the hills, and start looting and hurting the people they're meant to protect. The civilians are at the mercy of the CNDP, who thankfully are not outright attacking them. However, the CNDP are certainly living off what civilians have left behind, and are not overly concerned with protecting them. They are expansionist, and seeking greater control over the North Kivu region. They control most access to Virunga park, and some motivation for this offensive may be plans to control gorilla tourism, charcoal-harvesting, logging, and mining for themselves and Rwanda. Politically, CNDP also wants the DRC gov't to finally move the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide or their progeny to be extracted from the national army and possibly moved back to Rwanda to either stand trial or be reintegrated. This process is tough - after 14 years, its difficult to decide who really should be DDR'd(disarmament-demobilize-reintegration) and sent to Rwanda. This lack of clarity plays into the hands of the CNDP to expand their power. Let's hope some political diplomacy will be able to quickly bring some solution to this - such as pursuing DDR of the Rwandan genocidaires, and offering amnesty and quick integration of the CNDP into the national army. Unless a mandate for international special forces to do battle with the CNDP, it is quite apparent that the CNDP ambitions will not be quelled by the current MONUC mandate to fire only when fired upon, and the undisciplined national army. Thankfully the international community seems to be rapidly pursuant of a solution...lets hope it is rapid enough to save some lives of civilians who are caught up in this mess.