Rebels in the eastern DR Congo say they have begun withdrawing from territory they captured from government troops. About 500,000 people have fled their homes during seven months of fighting. The violence has been particularly disturbing, coming less than ten years after the end of the Congo War that killed some 5.4 million people. The US dispatched a state department official to the region but has been careful to spare its allies anything beyond symbolic sanction, even after a UN report concluded that Rwanda and Uganda are backing the M23 rebels.