Rwandan troops enter the DRC as part of a joint military effort to root out Hutu militias

Rwandan troops entered the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 20 January 2009 as part of a joint Rwandan-Congolese military effort to root out Hutu militias in the eastern DRC. Reports indicate that approximately 2,000 Rwandan troops crossed the border into North Kivu province near the provincial capital of Goma and are heading for the town of Rutshuru. The Rwandan and Congolese governments signed an agreement in early December 2008 to conduct the joint operation in order to defeat the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebel group. The FDLR is mostly made up of former Interahamwe members who are accused of perpetrating the 1994 genocide and are widely viewed as triggering the instability in the eastern DRC. A military operation against the FDLR is also a primary demand of the Tutsi National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) rebel group, which is currently observing a ceasefire with the Congolese government.