Non-Subscriber Extract
Rwandan guerrillas and DRC rebels resist disarmament
By Helmoed-Romer Heitman
28 November 2007
The president of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda - FDLR), Ignace Murwanashyaka, has said that it will forcibly resist being disarmed.
The FDLR consists of soldiers of the former Rwandan Army and members of the Interahamwe militia that was behind the 1994 genocide attempt in Rwanda. Forced out of Rwanda by invading rebel forces, elements of the army and the Interahamwe crossed into the eastern parts of Zaire - now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Their guerrilla raids from bases in the border area were the key trigger for the Rwandan and Ugandan invasion of Zaire, which, in turn, triggered the civil war in that country.
The FDLR resumed its guerrilla raids into Rwanda after Rwandan and Ugandan forces withdrew from the DRC. It also stands accused of attacking ethnic Tutsis in the eastern provinces of the DRC. This has led to threats of a renewed invasion by the Rwandan Army, finally leading to an agreement between Rwanda and the DRC that the DRC Army will disarm the FDLR, forcibly if necessary.
At the same time, dissident DRC Army General Laurent Nkunda has said that his forces will neither disarm nor disband while the threat to ethnic Tutsis remains active.