A Visit to FDLR Base in DRCongo (Pictorial)

The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), says it is clearing all the armed groups out of the east of the country by force.

The Congolese army says it will attack the FDLR, with UN support, within a matter of weeks if they don’t surrender. Some of their members are accused of genocide, mass-rape and trying to overthrow the Rwandan Government.

Current FDLR president Gaston Iyamuremye prepares to give a speech to his soldiers in Buleusa.

The official number of FDLR fighters remain unknown, but the UN claims the number could reach into the thousands.

A view of Buleusa – a village in the North Kivu region – early in the morning. The village is populated by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FLDR).

FDLR members protect their headquarters in Buleusa. The group’s ranks include members of the militia that carried out the 1994 Rwanda genocide, who have been in neighbouring Congo ever since.

A view of the village of Buleusa early in the morning.

FDLR members are protecting themself from the rain under grass huts outside the headquarters of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda in Buleusa village.

A stack of AK47s inside a hut at the FDLR headquarters in Buleusa. FDLR claims that they laid down their arms but the UN claims otherwise.

The FDLR consits of Hutu fighters and families that fled Rwanda after the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) took over the country in 1994.

Kids dry mais in Buleusa. North Kivu has been wracked with conflict for decades.

The Congolese army says it will attack the FDLR, with UN support, within a matter of weeks if they don’t surrender.

Women wait to collect water in the village of Buleusa early in the morning.

Many FDLR members are accused of genocide, mass rape and trying to overthrow the Rwandan Government.

all photos by Michele Sibiloni/Al Jazeera