Congo repatriation figures false – RDRC

KIGALI - Recent figures published by the DRC government of rebel fighters of the FDLR repatriated to Rwanda, since the beginning of the year have been dismissed by the chairman of the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (RDRC), Jean Sayinzoga. A communiqué published by the DRC on October 19 had claimed that over 1,200 FDLR combatants had been voluntarily repatriated between January and the beginning of September. Speaking to The New Times on Sunday, Sayinzoga, refuted these figures saying that the ones they have are very different from the DRC’s assertions. He said the figures quoted by the DRC were false and that even the UN peacekeeping forces (MONUC) could vouch for it. “The figures we have speak for themselves, they are nowhere near the mentioned figure and MONUC is aware of that,” he said. Efforts to get a comment from MONUC’s military spokesman on the phone were futile and even an email sent to him remained unanswered all through the weekend. Recent meetings of the task-force of the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG), have called for more tougher measures to be brought against the negative forces, especially their political leaders in Europe and the US to compel them to adhere to the disarmament process. Immigration officials at the Goma-Gisenyi border in north western Rwanda confirmed that very few people have passed through the border since the beginning of the year. Under the Nairobi Communiqué signed in November 2007, the DRC was supposed to forcefully disarm and regroup the combatants for possible repatriation or relocation for those unwilling to return to Rwanda. The idea of relocation in the DRC did not go down well with the DRC’s Special Envoy to the talks, Ambassador Seraphin N’gwej. In a JMG meeting held in Gisenyi on June 4, N’gwej was quoted in the minutes of the meeting saying that “... relocation of members of the Rwandan armed groups would meet with considerable resistance in the communities in which they would be located; this would require some form of compensation for the communities affected, even if relocation would be of a temporary nature.” Observers say the Nairobi Communiqué as well as other numerous agreements to end the conflict in the eastern DRC will remain a dead letter as long as there is no political will on the side of the DRC, and its continuous dependence on the FDLR to fight its wars. Ends

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Congo repatriation figures false – RDRC