Kigali integrates four ex-rebel commanders into national army

The Rwandan government has integrated four former rebel commanders into the Rwanda Defence Force, the Rwandan news agency, RNA, reported on Tuesday.

They include Maj-Gen Paul Rwarakabije, Col Jerome Ngendahimana, Lt-Col Evariste Murenzi and Thadee Nzeyimana, all former members of the former Rwandan armed forces (ex-FAR) who, until recently, had been based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They had fled to the DRC after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which claimed lives of at least 937,000 people, according to Rwandan government figures.

RNA reported that the integration of the former rebels into the army was intended to foster reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi Rwandans.

It added that Rwarakabije had visited various "solidarity" camps, where former combatants are undergoing training on reintegration, to pass on the message of reconciliation and encourage a peaceful return home for the former rebels.

The RNA also reported that the government had promoted Maj-Gen James Kabarebe, the chief of the general staff, and Maj-Gen Marcel Gatsinzi, the minister of defence, to full generals.

Rwarakabije, a former leader the DRC-based Forces democratique de liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) rebel movement, returned Rwanda in November 2003 along with 103 of his men after nearly 10 years in the DRC.

Following the 1994 genocide, thousands of ex-FAR and Interahamwe militia fled across the border to the DRC. This prompted Rwandan President Paul Kagame to deploy some 20,000 government troops into DRC to neutralise the rebels, who were using eastern DRC as a base from which to stage attacks on Rwanda.

In 2002, Rwanda withdrew its troops from the DRC following a commitment from the Kinshasa government to disarm Hutu fighters remaining in eastern DRC.

Although many FDLR fighters have been implicated in the genocide, Rwarakabije has not been accused of having played a role in the orchestrated slaughter of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu extremists.