NORTHERN PROVINCE

MUSANZE — Over 64 former combatants have been discharged from the Mutobo Demobilisation and Reintegration Centre after three months of rehabilitation.

The ex-combatants including three Captains and two Lieutenants, discharged on Tuesday were part of renegade military factions operating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) including FDLR, RUDC and the Mai mai.

According to Jean Sayinzoga, the chairman of Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission, the latest group who make the 27th batch to be discharged attended different lessons including literacy, and entrepreneurship skills to prepare them for reintegration in society.

The function was attended by an official of the UN mission in DR Congo, MONUC, Alpha Sow, UN/AU representatives, European Union delegate and UNHCR observers.

Sayinzoga said that the reintegration process was part of the peace agreement signed between Rwanda and DR Congo in Nairobi to ensure that the genocide perpetrators and dissident groups operating from DR Congo are repatriated.

He asked the ex-combatants to shun subversive activities and use the life skills acquired to develop themselves and the country.

"You should feel at home, your security is guaranteed instead embrace government programmes of economic revolution,’’ Sayinzoga told the former soldiers.

The ex-combatants looking visibly relieved sung on top of their voices and appealed to their colleagues still holed up in DR Congo forests to return home.

"We lived a painful hard life, living for a long time in exile is a form of slavery, we lost our culture, we are currently behind development,’’ said Theophile Sengiyunva, 32, former FDRL soldier discharged at the rank of captain.

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