The 2009 Eastern Congo offensive was a joint Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

-Rwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

 military offensive against the Hutu

Hutu

The Hutu , or Abahutu, are a Central African people, living mainly in Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern DR Congo.-Population statistics:The Hutu are the largest of the three peoples in Burundi and Rwanda; according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians...

 FDLR

Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda is the primary remnant Rwandan Hutu Power rebel group in the east of the of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is often referred to as simply the FDLR after its original French name: the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda...

 rebel group descended from those groups that carried out the 1994 Rwanda genocide

Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...

. Two operations were carried out, 'Kimia II' and 'Umoja Wetu.' 'Kimia' can be translated as 'calm.' “Umoja Wetu” is Swahili

Swahili language

Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

 for “Our Unity”.

Timeline

Rwanda and the DRC made an agreement to rout out elements of the FDLR from eastern Congo. On January 20, 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 January 23, 2009, some rebels had started to surrender to Rwandan and Congolese troops.

First reports of fighting came on January 24, 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

Mai-Mai

The term Mai-Mai or Mayi-Mayi refers to any kind of community-based militia group active in the Second Congo War and its aftermath in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , formed to defend their local territory against other armed groups...

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 January 26, 2009, rebels tried to retake the village of Kasinga, but were repulsed by Congolese and Rwandan soldiers in fighting that killed four militiamen.

On February 18, 2009, air strikes killed 40 rebels 5 kilometers west of Goma.

Rwandan forces withdrew on February 27.