Brussels, 23/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - Louis Michel, European Development Commissioner, sees the arrest of Congolese rebellion Tutsi leader, Laurent Nkunda, on Thursday 22 January in Rwanda, as a potentially positive element for restoring peace to the Congo. He said any element that allows the negative influence on either side to be lessened can but consolidate and strengthen peace. Laurent Nkunda's arrest is a sign that Rwanda is not behind him. Rwanda makes a clear distinction between Nkunda and the others, Louis Michel said, which should reassure the DRC compared to the agreement that was reached between the parties and compared to the presence of Rwandan forces as observers on the ground. The arrest came just two days after the Rwandan Army entered DRC (North Kivu), in coordinated action with the DRC armed forces in order to begin joint operations to hunt down Rwandan rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda set up in the region. The commissioner said that this action does not perhaps mean that all problems in the region will be immediately solved but it is undeniably the beginning of the solution. It comes, he said, in an effort of regional involvement to resolve the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a decisive element of response to the initiative that he had proposed, he said, and which resulted in the Nairobi II summit on 7 November last. Mr Michel remains convinced it is only within the framework of cooperation at regional level that a lasting solution can come about for the persistent crises in the eastern part of the DRC. (A.N./transl.jl)