FAQ: Crisis in the Congo

Why did David Miliband go to Rwanda when the crisis is in Congo?

Rwanda has been heavily embroiled in Congo since more than one million Hutus fled there in 1994, led by extremists responsible for the genocide of around 800,000 Tutsis. The extremists used the cover of the UN-run camps to continue attacks which led Rwanda to invade in 1996, beginning a cycle of conflict that continues today with various armed groups, the Congolese army and Rwandan Hutus competing for territory and control of mining interests.

There is particular focus on Rwanda now because it is accused of backing the Tutsi rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, who is threatening Goma and whose attacks on government forces have forced about 250,000 people from their homes in recent weeks.

Nkunda says he is fighting to defend the region's Tutsi population from Hutu extremists but his critics say he is a power hungry warlord who is principally interested in protecting valuable gold, tin and coltan mining interests, like other rebel leaders.

Is Rwanda backing Nkunda?

Rwanda denies forcefully supporting him, but there is little doubt that it has in the past. Nkunda served in President Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front in the war that ended the 1994 genocide. He then joined the Rwandan-backed rebels who overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko, leader of what was then Zaire, three years later. In the years of conflict and Rwandan occupation that followed, Nkunda worked closely with the powers in Kigali and its army.

Even after he took his forces into the Congolese army under a peace agreement, Nkunda maintained his ties with the Rwandan military. Kigali, however, claims to have severed its ties with Nkunda and is clearly embarrassed by his excesses after the Tutsi rebel leader's troops were accused of murdering civilians and mass rape. Nkunda himself has been indicted as a war criminal.

The US last week said that while there was no evidence of the Rwandan government directly supporting Nkunda, he has been receiving support from Rwandan soil. That is thought to refer to his continuing close ties to some in the Rwandan army, and that some former Rwandan soldiers are now fighting with Nkunda's forces.

Does Britain have influence over Rwanda?

Britain's influence in Rwanda has grown considerably as France's has declined since the genocide.

Before 1994, the UK did not even have an embassy or a permanent diplomatic presence in Kigali. Now Britain is the single largest contributor of foreign aid to Rwanda, donating $790m (?488m) over the past five years - nearly half the total international aid to Kigali. The UK is committed to providing Rwanda with at least ?46m a year for the next decade.The former international development secretary, Clare Short, led the way with what some critics contended was largely unconditional assistance to an authoritarian government responsible for atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But the British government took the view that allowances had to be made for political realities after the genocide and that the Rwandan administration is committed to reconstruction, transparent government and is moving, albeit too slowly, toward greater political freedom.

In addition, Tony Blair has developed a personal relationship with Kagame. The former prime minister is scheduled to visit Kigali next week as part of a project to bolster governance that has seen Blair's office place experts in the Rwandan president's office and the cabinet office, and to help establish the country's first think tank.

If Miliband is interested in exerting real political pressure on Rwanda, he has a lot more leverage than most foreign ministers.