Since the beginning of this blog, I have written hard and often about the genocide taking place in the Congo. Rarely did I have good news to share with you about the horrors including five million dead, massive rape, huge displacements of entire cities and children forced into different rebel forces. Yet there are signs that maybe, just maybe, civil war in the Eastern sector might be winding down.

We have been disappointed so many times one is almost afraid to have hope.

But we do have war criminal Thomas Lubanga set to appear before the World Court in The Hague. We have the news that the most notoriously brutal of them all, General Laurent Nkunda, has been arrested in Rwanda and is no longer free to wreck havoc and cause mass death and devastation. He commanded the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and is known for mass slaughter and rape. He had become known as the 'butcher' among the Congolese people. It is unclear if Commander Nkunda will be handed over to the Congo or the International World Court. At least for the moment, he is out of circulation. Rwanda, which endured its own genocide, holds the key to the butcher's fate.

The General was known for having an extremely disciplined army of rebels. Some fear without his magical and mythological leadership, his supporters could lose all control and things could actually get worse. Rwandan troops are back in the Congo in attempt to put an end to Nkunda's army. They have entered the Congo twice before but this time the leader is under arrest. I know I continually say this, but it is hard to imagine how the situation in the Congo could get any worse.

In this week's edition of The Economist the story ends on a hopeful note. Here is what the magazine had to say:

"Still, Rwanda has more to gain by co-operating with Congo. Rwanda’s economy grew tidily in 2008, with revenue from tea, coffee and tourism. As a new member of the East African Community, it can earn more by openly handling Congo’s metals, gems and hardwoods than it can by looting them, as in the past. If Mr Nkunda and other alleged war criminals, such as another warlord, Congo’s Thomas Lubanga, whose trial has just begun at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, are sent to prison, hundreds of thousands of displaced Congolese may feel safe enough to start going home. It may even be the beginning of the end of a long, hellish period of impunity in the tragic heart of Africa. "