Rebels removed from DRC

2009-02-20 21:04

Kigali - More than 300 Rwandan Hutu rebels and over 2 500 civilians have been deported from the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past month, the Rwandan army said on Friday.

Rwandan and Congolese troops have been working together in the volatile Nord-Kivu region since January 20 to drive out members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and repatriate civilians displaced by fighting.

Jill Rutaremara, a spokesperson for the Rwandan army, told AFP late on Thursday evening that 2 557 civilians and 310 rebels had been sent home since operations began four weeks ago.

"All repatriates are kept in a transit camp in the north-west of the country as they wait to return to their villages," Rutaremara said.

He also said many more rebels would be expelled from Congo within the coming weeks.

But Rutaremara refused to be drawn on how much longer the joint Congolese-Rwandan collaboration would last.

"The extension of the operation is a decision that will be taken at the highest levels," he said.

At the beginning of February, the Rwandan parliament passed a motion that the collaboration should last "until it can achieve its objectives".

Despite recent tensions between Congo and Rwanda, the two countries' armies launched on January 20 an unprecedented joint offensive to drive out the FDLR from Nord-Kivu.

The 6 500-strong rebel forces have been hiding in DR Congo since the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which some of their members took part.

- AFP