NAIROBI, Kenya — Hundreds of Rwandan troops crossed into Congo early Tuesday as part of a joint military operation to crack down on rebel militias that have been destabilizing the central African nation for more than a decade.
It marks the second time in a month that Congolese President Joseph Kabila has made a controversial decision to invite foreign troops onto his soil to help restore security in eastern Congo. Last month, Ugandan troops entered Congo to attack hideouts of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel movement.
The latest campaign appears to be targeting a Rwandan rebel army that also sought refuge in Congo’s dense jungles. The Hutu militia, known as Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, is accused of seeking to overthrow Rwanda’s Tutsi-led government.
FDLR, which finances itself by illegally exploiting Congo’s mineral riches, was founded by Hutu extremists who fled Rwanda after orchestrating the 1994 genocide, which left an estimated 800,000 people dead.
Between 1,500 and 2,000 Rwandan troops crossed the border early Tuesday and began making their way toward the town of Rutshuru, where they were expected to join Congolese troops with tanks and other heavy equipment, United Nations officials said.
Details about the impending operation were unclear, but a Congolese government spokesman told Reuters that it was expected to last 10 to 15 days.
Aid groups and civilians criticized last month’s joint operation against the Lord’s Resistance Army as ill-prepared. After being bombed by Ugandan helicopters, LRA rebels launched dozens of attacks against civilians, killing more than 500 people and displacing thousands over the past month.
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