DR Congo rebel commander arrested in Rwanda

Rwandan authorities arrested a top Congolese rebel leader from the M23 group, according to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister for Information, Lambert Mende.

Seraphin Mirindi was taken into custody near the border this week, Mende said Friday by phone from the capital, Kinshasa.

“We would wish the Rwandan government to send him back to Congo,” Mende said. “This should be a strong message for anyone who wants to cause instability in Eastern Congo.”

Congo, almost the size of Western Europe, is the world’s largest source of cobalt and Africa’s biggest miner of copper and tin. It struggled for two decades to defeat dozens of local and foreign militias in the east of the country.

In 2013, the M23 rebel group captured Goma before being pushed back and ultimately defeated by United Nations and Congolese troops. Following their defeat, they fled to Uganda and Rwanda but have tried to regroup and start a new rebellion. Congo accused neighboring Rwanda of supporting M23, a charge the country denied.