MONUC supports an exploratory mission of ex Rwandan RUD/FDLR combatants to their country

Information Note / MONUC
26 january 2009

Kinshasa, DR Congo– Alan Doss, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General in the DRC, welcomes the departure of the RUD/FDLR exploratory mission for Rwanda, which he said “underlines the will of the two Governments to continue to offer a voluntary peaceful option to Rwandan combatants.”

Six combatants, accompanied by five of their dependents (three women and two children), members of the Rassemblement pour l’Unité et la Démocratie (RUD), and a dissenting faction of the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), started, on 23 January 2009, a one week exploratory mission in their country of origin.

It is the result of a sensitizing mission in Kasiki, approximately 200km north of Goma by MONUC’s Disarmament, Demobilisation, Repatriation, Resettlement and Reintegration (DDRRR) team.

One week earlier, MONUC obtained the agreement of 150 RUD rebels to send representatives on an exploratory mission to their country of origin, on the invitation of the Rwandan government. The RUD members had already disarmed since 31 July 2008.

This joint initiative of the Rwandan and DRC governments, facilitated by MONUC and supported by the international community, aims to encourage all FDLR combatants who have disarmed to voluntarily return via the Rwandan DDRRR programme.

The group then crossed the border into Rwanda, accompanied by a MONUC DDRRR delegation and representatives of the Joint Nairobi follow up Working Group and the International Facilitation team, as well as Congolese and Rwandan government officials. The delegation was accomodated in Rubavu (formerly Gisenyi) by the President of the Rwandan Commission of demobilization and reintegration.

“More than ever, at the present time, FDLR combatants and other rebel factions must know that the DDRRR option remains fully open, and that MONUC temas are ready to accomodate those who wish to voluntarily and peacefully disarm,” said MONUC DDRRR chief Bruno Donat.

The President of the Rwandan Commission of Demobilization and Rehabilitation, Jean Sayinzoga, stressed that his government remained ready to accomodate and reinsert Rwandan combatants who choose the DDRRR option.

MONUC is pleased with this positive development.

Source:
MONUC
UN Mission in DR Congo