The 2009 Eastern Congo offensive was a joint Congo-

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

military offensive against the

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

FDLR The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (french: Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, FDLR) is an armed rebel group active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. As an ethnic Hutu group opposed to the ethnic Tuts ...

rebel group descended from those groups that carried out the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Two operations were carried out, 'Kimia II' and 'Umoja Wetu.' 'Kimia' can be translated as 'calm.' "Umoja Wetu" is Swahili for "Our Unity".

Timeline

Rwanda and the DRC made an agreement to rout out elements of the FDLR from eastern Congo. On 20 January 2009, 1,000 Rwandan soldiers poured over the border into eastern Congo near Goma and were working, according to United Nations officials, as advisers for the Congolese troops. On 23 January 2009, some rebels had started to surrender to Rwandan and Congolese troops. First reports of fighting came on 24 January 2009, when the Congolese army reported they killed nine FDLR militiamen. In response the rebels claimed they didn't lose any men and that the Congolese military itself suffered nine soldiers killed and one wounded in a clash with a group of

Mai-Mai The term Mai-Mai or Mayi-Mayi refers to any kind of community-based militia group active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that is formed to defend local communities and territory against other armed groups. Most were formed to resis ...

militiamen. By this time the FDLR was in retreat from Southern into Northern Kivu province and the number of Rwandan soldiers in the region reached 5,000. On 26 January 2009, rebels tried to retake the village of Kasinga, but were repulsed by Congolese and Rwandan soldiers in fighting that killed four militiamen. On 18 February 2009, air strikes killed 40 rebels 5 kilometers west of Goma. Rwandan forces withdrew on 27 February 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009 Eastern Congo Offensive Conflicts in 2009 Eastern Congo Offensive, 2009 Wars involving the Democratic Republic of the Congo Civil wars involving the states and peoples of Africa Wars involving Rwanda Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda relations Kivu conflict