• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Foreign rebel fighters prepare for repatriation

KINSHASA, 18 November 2003 (IRIN) - Hundreds of foreign rebels and their families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are being processed for voluntary repatriation, Vital Kamerhe, the government spokesman, told reporters on Monday.

"These folks have agreed to voluntary repatriation and are in transit under the supervision of the national military," he said in Kinshasa, the capital.

The second in charge of the Department of Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), Col Jean-Pierre Boutroy, said most of the rebels were Ugandan but there were also Burundians, Rwandans and Sudanese who were members of a so-called Sierra Battalion. The Rwandans among them comprised members of the Interahamwe, Hutu militias who are largely responsible for that country's 1994 genocide.

He said the group (made up of 361 fighters, 137 women and 247 children) arrived in Kikwit, 400 km southeast of Kinshasa, on Wednesday by boat. They had come from Ilebo, Kasai Occidental Province, where they had been fighting for four years.

"These people have come with their weapons, their families and their cattle. They are to be taken to the Kitona Military Base, in Bas Congo Province, where they will be disarmed and demobilised," he said.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

The material contained on this Web site comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post any item on this site, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All graphics and Images on this site may not be re-produced without the express permission of the original owner. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003