Congo Seeks Protection

Despite the arrest of a rebel leader, the world's most brutal war persists. When should the international community intervene?

Karel Prinsloo / AP

Nkunda pictured at his base surrounded by armed soldiers before his Jan. 22 capture by Rwandan authorities.

Drive west through Rwanda, threading past hills of eucalyptus, down to the shores of Lake Kivu and the Congolese border and you'll see real, actual signs of trouble. Every few hundred yards are hand-painted signboards marking the sites of massacres during Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Here, 532 were killed. There, 318. Here, "+/− 5,000." The word JENOSIDE is painted in scarlet, and after you've seen it--and the redness of the earth--a few times, it's hard not to wonder about the great flood of blood that bathed Rwanda when 800,000 people were slaughtered in three months. But there are other signs, signs of...

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