NORTHERN PROVINCE

Maj. Gen Paul Rwarakabije, a former Brigade Commander in the FDLR, who surrendered in 2003 has said the DRC national army-FARDC should be blamed for blocking defecting FDLR rebels from returning to Rwanda.

"The Congolese army is responsible for the continued fighting in the Eastern Congo, because they have held up the rebels, blocked them for military support and conspired with the leaders of the rebel groups many of whom are genocide criminals who preach negative ideology to the refugees still living in Congo,’’ he said.

He was talking to The New Times, after he had presented a lecture to ex-combatants who are attending orientation course at Mutobo Demobilization Centre.

Born in 1953, in the former Ruhengeri province, Rwarakabije graduated with a Diploma in military science from Ecole Suprieur Millitaire-Kigali in 1977, before attending a one-year military course at Ecole de Transimision de Montelogues-Paris, France.

He however, later defected with a group of others, and now works as a commissioner in the Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission.

"My turning point was in 2003 when I made an assessment of what had been done, where we were heading and decided to return to Rwanda and embark on peace building,’’ he said.

Rwarakabije highlighted a number of factors preventing defecting rebels from returning to Rwanda. The major one, he said, is the negative ideology being preached especially to the young fighters conscripted in FDRL, by the genocide criminals-that the government of Rwanda can not accept them.

Rwarakabije says that FARDC has often conspired with the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC) to fail the efforts of those willing to return, and then there is a group of those who fear to begin a new life in Rwanda and decide to stay in the jungles.

Another group, he added, is made up of diehards who still believe that they have to fight on and regain their power-to continue with the former agenda of ethnic divisions and genocide.

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