Government bans Rwandan rebel groups

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Tuesday a ban on all armed Rwandan groups operating in the country, and said their leaders had been declared personae non gratae on Congolese territory.

A communique issued by Vital Kamerhe, the government's commissioner general, specifically referred to the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), adding that its leaders had 72 hours to leave the country.

The measure was taken as part of the Pretoria accord, signed on 30 July, between Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Joseph Kabila of the DRC which committed the latter to the disarmament and repatriation of Rwandan rebel groups in exchange for a Rwandan withdrawal from DRC territory.

"This group [FDLR] is among the factors disrupting the disarmament of armed groups," Kamerhe told IRIN.

Both the FDLR president, Ignace Murwanashyaka, and its vice-president, Christophe Hakizabera, are reported to be residing in the DRC capital, Kinshasa.

The FDLR claims to be a political and military group - which opposes the current Rwandan regime - with a base in Austria. Its leaders have continually disassociated themselves from the Interahamwe militia and the former Rwandan army (ex-FAR), who were responsible for the 1994 genocide.

The group was founded by Rwandan Hutu refugees in 2001, who were fleeing the advance of Rwandan troops in the DRC. They sided with the DRC government in the four-year war against Rwanda and Uganda.