Laurent Nkunda, the feared Congolese warlord, was under arrest in Rwanda and awaiting extradition on war crimes charges yesterday after fleeing a joint offensive by the two nations against his rebel headquarters in the heart of the Congolese jungle.

The “Butcher of Bukavu”, who led the bloody march to the gates of the eastern Congolese capital Goma in November, was captured by the joint force as he tried to escape across the border into Rwanda after his Tutsi allies in the Rwandan Government broke ties with him.

It was an extraordinary reversal of fortune for the ethnic Tutsi rebel leader who championed himself as the saviour of the Congolese Tutsi minority, and who for years received Rwandan backing and troops for his battle against remnants of the Interahamwe, the Hutu militia that led the 1994 genocide of Rwandan Tutsis.

Some hailed his capture as the best chance for peace in a generation in Congo’s war-torn, resource-rich east. But diplomats warned against assumptions that Kigali and Kinshasa had shelved their long-simmering tensions over the rebel leader.

General Nkunda was in the Congolese army until he took up arms against it in defence of the Tutsi minority, vowing to wipe out the remaining Hutu rebels living in the forests of the Congolese Kivus.

He became Rwanda’s point man in eastern Congo, protecting interests such as the valuable trade in minerals like coltan and cobalt in return for money and troops. But Rwanda suffered international embarrassment last year when he drove the region back to the brink of war with his audacious assault on Goma.

Up to a million civilians fled their homes and hundreds were massacred when General Nkunda’s forces encircled the city. The upsurge in violence sparked a flurry of high-level diplomatic traffic through the Great Lakes region spearheaded by Britain and France.

Several European countries cut aid to Rwanda to demonstrate their disapproval of Kigali’s support for the man regarded as the number one troublemaker among eastern Congo’s many rival factions. General Nkunda’s apparent downfall was set in motion several weeks ago when military commanders from his ethnic Tutsi movement announced that they had split. Last week, backed by senior Rwandan army officials, they signed a ceasefire with the Government.

Earlier this week 3,500 Rwandan troops crossed the border into Congo with the agreement of the Government in Kinshasa to take on the Hutu militias.

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