Rebel leader threatens to expand group's activity to the entire country

On 2 October 2008 Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) rebel leader Laurent Nkunda threatened to expand his group's activity from the eastern provinces to the entire country. Nkunda's group has traditionally claimed to fight for the liberation of the Tutsi people in North and South Kivu provinces from repression by Rwanda's Hutu militants. Observers have noted that the statement is a notable change of position for Nkunda, who had always advertised himself as a "defender of his Tutsi people," and had never before indicated that he would "fight for the liberation of the whole of Democratic Republic of Congo." Although there have not yet been any rebel movements to suggest that the CNDP has successfully expanded its theater of operations, ongoing violence between the rebels on the one hand and DRC soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers on the other, suggests that the CNDP is capable of conducting a long campaign. A ceasefire was signed in January 2008, but violence has been an almost daily occurrence since late August 2008.