MPs meet former FDRL rebels

NORTHERN PROVINCE MUSANZE — A delegation of MPs on the Security and Protection commission on Wednesday visited Musanze to meet former FDRL combatants who are undergoing demobilisation and reintegration course at the Mutobo Demobilisation Centre. Over 400 former rebels, who were captured or voluntarily surrendered during the joint Congo-Rwanda military operation in the DR Congo, are attending the course before they return to civilian life. During their visit, the lawmakers lectured the former fighters on why they should change their mindset to positive thinking, by shunning divisionary ideology. MP Alfred Gasana, urged the former rebels to appeal to their colleagues they left behind, to return home, saying those who returned must bear testimony to the peace and security in the country. Gasana pointed out that the rebel outfit had no clear agenda and it was high time the rebels embraced the fact that force and guns would not work. Josephin Mukamana, who has been fighting for the last five years, confessed that while in the jungles she had no idea the kind of the strides Rwanda had taken to restore peace and development. “We hardly got true information about Rwanda, or from our families because of the nature of the environment under which we lived,’’ Mukamana who looked visibly sad, said. The MPs encouraged the group to cooperate with other Rwandans in re- building the country, and to play a more meaningful role in maintaining security. Ends