Hutu militia fear return to Rwanda

Militia Fears Rwandan Return

Hutu fighters in eastern Congo say they face an uncertain future in Rwanda. By Jacque Kahorha in Goma (AR No. 167, 17-Apr-08) Many of the estimated 6,000 Hutu militia fighters now in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, say they won’t be treated fairly if they return to Rwanda. Many of these fighters say they fled Rwanda more than ten years ago as children, yet fear they will be accused of participating in the Rwandan genocide should they go back. And although most live as renegade fighters, they say they’re better off in eastern Congo ... “Hutus are roughly treated by the leadership [of Rwanda],” said Lieutenant-Colonel Edmond Ngarambe, spokesman for the Abacunguzi, the militant wing of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, FDLR. He claims the Kigali government regards all Hutus as bearing responsibility for the Tutsi genocide ... According to a recent United Nations report, 40 per cent of the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces are controlled by the FDLR. Most Congolese want them to return to Rwanda. “The FDLR are controlling the administration, appointing and dismissing whoever they want, exploiting mines and buying weapons,” said Alexis Kanyenye, a Congolese political activist ... For much of this decade, the Abacunguzi have battled forces of Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda, who heads the National Congress for the Defense of People, CNDP, and claims that he is defending his ethnic Tutsi community against attacks by the FDLR ... “It is traumatising to see about 10,000 armed men … in a country without any control,” Nkunda told IWPR. “In other countries, when there are illegal immigrants, even if they are not armed, citizens are afraid and feel insecure. What about our country?” The regional fighting involves a number of other groups, such as the Rally for Unity and Democracy, RUD, a Hutu militia that split from the FDLR, as well as others such as the Mai-Mai in Rutshuru and South Lubero areas. Lieutenant-Colonel Michel Victor Amani, a RUD commander in Binza, about 100 km northwest of Goma, told IWPR that his group also defends ethnic Hutu. “Our guns are used to protect our relatives who are refugees in Kivu,” said Amani. “As you know, their security is always disturbed by Laurent Nkunda, the FARDC and [UN] forces. We are obliged to fight to protect them.” Congolese officials estimate that the FDLR has about 6,000 fighters in DRC, two-thirds of them from Rwanda. Rwandan officials, meanwhile, say they have a list of 6,974 Hutus who participated in the genocide and live in DRC ...