On January 22, 2009, he was put under house arrest in Gisenyi when he was called for a meeting to plan a joint operation between the Congolese and Rwandan militaries.

During the First Congo War, he fought alongside AFDL rebels led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko.

Nkunda claimed to be defending the interests of the Tutsi minority in eastern Congo who were subjected to attacks by Hutus, who had fled after their involvement with the Rwandan genocide.

It was reported that he was advancing on the city of Goma with the aim of capturing it, with the Congolese army claiming he was receiving aid from Rwanda.

[6] The fighting uprooted 200,000 civilians, bringing the total number of people displaced by the Kivu conflict to 2 million,[7] causing civil unrest[8] large food shortages[7] and what the United Nations calls "a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions.

"[9] In an interview with the BBC on November 10, 2008, Nkunda threatened to topple the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo if the president, Joseph Kabila, continued to avoid direct negotiations.

[12] In May 2002, he was accused of massacring 160 people in Kisangani during the Second Congo War, prompting UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson to call for his arrest following the abduction and beating of two UN investigators by his troops.

The United Nations has identified Nkunda's CNDP as being one of the main groups responsible for the recruitment of child soldiers in the Congo.

[19] A Rwandan military spokesman has claimed, however, that Nkunda is being held at Gisenyi, a city in Rubavu district in the Western Province of Rwanda.

He is a polyglot who speaks English, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda,[23] Lingala and Kinande, and has claimed to admire leaders including Gandhi and George W.