Rwanda has taken custody of seven rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) based in eastern DR Congo.
The seven rebels were part of 29 ex-combatants transported saturday to Rwanda aboard a truck from the camp DDRRR (Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Reinsertion and Reintegration) of the UN Mission for Stabilization in Democratic Republic Congo (Monusco) to the border with Rwanda.
However, Rwanda rejected to take custody of the others whom Monusco said were former members of the M23 rebel group who surrendered to UN in DRC claiming they were Rwandan Nationals.
Rwanda authorities told Monusco that those who fought in the M23 be handed to the DR-Congo government, because “this movement does not exist in Rwanda.”
The twenty-two Rwandan combatants of M23 spent almost 45 minutes in the no man’s land (neutral zone) between the DRC and Rwanda, before being taken back to DRC.
DRC has consistently accused Rwanda of having a hand in the ongoing crisis in Eastern DRC, where the M23 rebels have staged a fight against government forces. M23 rebels have made significant battle successes in the past weeks where they seized Bunagana a major boarder city and threatening to go and capture Kinshasa.
In an interview with the BBC,President Paul Kagame said, “We (Rwanda) do not support the M23 and we do not intend, because we do not know what they want. It makes no sense to be involved, because our relationship with the DRC was very good. Before all this happened, we worked together to eliminate the problem that existed between the two countries. ”
He said the problem of the M23 is “an internal problem of the Congo, and a failure of the authorities to solve their own problems.”
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