 To assist the new government , since February 2000 the United Nations has had the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( now called MONUSCO ) , which currently has a strength of over 16 @,@ 000 peacekeepers in the country . Its principal tasks are to provide security in key areas , such as the South Kivu and North Kivu in the east , and to assist the government in reconstruction . Foreign rebel groups are also in the Congo , as they have been for most of the last half @-@ century . The most important is the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda ( FDLR ) , against which Laurent Nkunda 's troops were fighting , but other smaller groups such as the anti @-@ Ugandan Lord 's Resistance Army are also present . 
