President Joseph Kabila told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that the Democratic Republic of Congo was going through a pivotal moment in its history with the organization of its second democratic elections, after those of 2006, and the return of peace all throughout the country.

A judge in North Kivu province sentenced a UN driver and his accomplice on Wednesday to three years in prison and a US$ 25,000 fine for trying to smuggle minerals to Rwanda. There have been other cases of UN peacekeepers involved in gold smuggling and even accused of providing weapons to rebels in eastern Congo.

A United Nations employee was arrested in North Kivu province Sunday night while attempting to smuggle over one ton of tin ore to neighboring Rwanda, Congolese officials said on Monday.

An army Colonel accused of ordering the mass rape of at least 49 women in eastern Congo has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

A report by a group of experts monitoring UN sanctions on the Democratic Republic of Congo has implicated former CNDP soldiers, now part of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC), in the illegal exploitation of mineral resources in eastern Congo.

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) is on the defensive since the NGO International Medical Corps revealed early this week that rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and members of a local Mai Mai militia, raped at least 154 women in North Kivu, a few kilometers from a MONUSCO base.

Rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have been reported in the North Kivu region of Walikale, where they are, once again, conducting a terror campaign against the local population.

The Security Council extended on Wednesday MONUC’s mandate in the Democratic republic of Congo until May 31, 2010. The 15 members of the UN body unanimously adopted resolution 1906 calling on peacekeepers to “use all necessary measures” to protect civilians.

The FDLR is one of the most brutal rebel force that Africa has ever known. They have been branded as terrorists by the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States.

During a press conference in Mbuji-Mayi on Sunday, President Kabila was asked about wire reports that the Congolese government has asked the United Nations to provide a pullout plan for its peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC).