Former FDLR legal chief speaks out on defections

MUSANZE - People occupying property formerly owned by fighters within the ranks of FDLR are behind rumours that defecting rebels will be arrested upon their return, a former executive member of the militia in charge of Judicial Affairs has said. Serafin Gasore escaped through Kenya and contacted the Rwandan Embassy in Nairobi before he was finally repatriated, and is currently enrolled in a demobilisation and reintegration course at Mutobo Demobilization Centre in Musanze District. “There is a lot of misinformation and propaganda fed to the rebels in the FDLR, many of whom are young and illiterate, they lack true information about Rwanda and the current progress,” said Gasore, a lawyer by profession who served for fours years as a Judicial Affairs officer. He said that he feels saddened by the number of people, especially the dependants of the militias, whose future in the Congo jungles is very bleak. “Children do not go to school, they are not immunised, and they are forced into rebel activities to be used by their commanders who are engaged in mining in Congo,” he said. As a member of the rebels’ Executive Committee, Gasore says he realised that the war they were fighting would never end, because it had no cause. Mutobo Demobilisation Centre currently has over 400 ex-combatants undergoing what is commonly known as Ingando before being reintegrated in their respective communities. The ex-combatants are given lessons on social, political, historic and economic affairs in Rwanda including genocide and its consequences. Thereafter, they are given a resettlement package of Rwf 100,000 upon completion of the course. Ends

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Former FDLR legal chief speaks out on defections