{{Former FDLR vice president Straton Musoni, currently on trial in Germany for war crimes has told court in his first comments that the Rwandan militia group was established with full backing of DR Congo government in May 2000.}}
He told court sitting in Stuttgart that he attended the founding conference of FDLR in DRC’s Lubumbashi region on May 1st, 2000 with full facilitation by DRC government of Laurent Desire Kabila.
Musoni revealed to court that he travelled from Germany via Zambia.
Speaking in German, Musoni said the choice of him and others was the idea of ex-Rwandan army (FAR) Special Forces in DRC who needed politicians outside to represent them in negotiations.
Straton Musoni and his boss Ignace Murwanashyaka have been on trial since 2011 after they had been arrested in a sting operation earlier.
On August 5th, Musoni was giving his first and uninterrupted defense statement to court.
In the document signed by FDLR second in commander “General” Stanislas Nzeyimana aka General Deogratias Bigaruka Izabayo, the group reminds President Kabila’s government that it owes them up to US$150,000 in unpaid dues for services provided. Gen Nzeyimana has since disappeared from battle and nobody knows his whereabouts.
The above payment, according to the letter, was supposed to be payment for “FDLR combatants who fought alongside the Congolese armed forces” (FARDC). These arrears date back to 2001 when the Kinshasa government was battling rebels in the east of the country.
Speaking about the FDLR agenda, Musoni admitted that there was no way it can win a war against the Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF). “FDLR wants to topple Rwanda government, install Hutu regime – it is like saying German Greens want to take Germany to Middle Ages,” said Musoni according to the German journalist in court.
Musoni first travelled to eastern DRC (the Zaire) at the end of 1994. He returned to German as representative of Rwandan Hutu exile party RDR in 1995. However, the project of this grouping failed around 1996 due to what Musoni described in court as RDR “unrealizable” goals.
During his trial, it emerged that Musoni was using the office phone of the German company where he was employed to speak with FDLR commanders in DRC.
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