KINSHASA, Congo - Congo's government is urging Rwanda to extradite detained rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, whose arrest has spurred hopes of a new era of peace in central Africa.
Rwanda apparently arrested Nkunda as part of a deal with its longtime rival Congo -- though his fate remains unclear.
Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende said Saturday that authorities in Kinshas are still waiting for Rwanda to take the decision to extradite Nkunda.
Congo's government issued an international warrant against Nkunda in 2005 for war crimes and rights abuses allegedly committed when his fighters seized the lakeside city of Bukavu a year earlier.
The military operation that led to Nkunda's arrest continued, meanwhile, with the combined forces from the two former enemies pressing deeper into Congo's jungles to hunt down Rwandan Hutu militiamen.
The effort is meant to address the conflict that has shattered the region since Rwanda's 1994 genocide spilled war across the border and Hutu militias sought refuge in Congo.
Rwanda has invaded twice to eradicate the militias -- though it was accused of plundering Congo's great mineral riches instead.
The presence of the Hutu militias also led in part to Nkunda's rebellion, because he had argued he was defending minority Tutsis against Rwandan Hutus.
Once Congo's most feared enemy, Nkunda had forced the embattled government to negotiate at peace talks in Kenya after his fighters advanced to the outskirts of the regional capital, Goma, in fighting that displaced more than 250,000.
Analysts say Rwanda was under intense international pressure to use its influence over the Tutsi rebellion to end the crisis.
At the same time, Rwanda and a clique of rebel commanders had grown disenchanted by Nkunda.
UN peacekeeping spokesman Lt.-Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich said the Rwanda-Congo military operation was moving on one axis north of Goma toward the town of Nyamilima, and another one to the west toward Mushake.
UN troops are not part of the operation, he said.
