Thousands of ex-soldiers to be repatriated

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has created a committee to oversee the repatriation of more than 4,000 soldiers from the Forces Armees Zairoises (FAZ), the Forces Armees Congolaises (FAC) and their families in exile in neighbouring Republic of Congo(RoC). The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) recently announced that it would organise the first returns of small groups of ex-FAZ/FAC members and dependents in the coming weeks. Upon arrival in Kinshasa, all returnees would benefit from reintegration support provided by the programme, which is jointly funded and run by IOM and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). According to IOM, ex-FAZ members fled to Brazzaville in May 1997, following the fall of the Mobutu regime. Soldiers who refused to join the newly-formed FAC of then-President Laurent-Desire Kabila joined them in August 1998. More combatants fled in November 2000 following a failed internal uprising in the FAC forces and in January 2001 following the assassination of Kabila, while others have abandoned their fighting positions in the northwestern Equateur province to seek refuge in northern RoC. A joint technical committee, made up of officials from both governments, IOM and UNDP, will evaluate each case and guarantee - in writing and before the repatriation takes place - that each person returning voluntarily to the DRC is free to return and will not face any problems with the security forces officials, IOM reported. However, this understanding did not appear to be fully shared by DRC authorities. "We realise that all the soldiers of Mobutu's special guard are not criminals, and they can return," a DRC security service official told IRIN. "However, those who have been implicated in wrongdoing will be pursued." Former members of Mobutu's special guard are demanding to be considered simply as members of the former army and not as a group of soldiers specific to Mobutu. "We consider them to be soldiers of the former army, and many such soldiers are serving in the current army. Some of them even hold very high rank," the security service source added. According to IOM, most ex-FAZ combatants and their families are currently living in and around Brazzaville. For over a year, some 300 have been camping on the ground of the DRC embassy in Brazzaville, requested return and reintegration assistance to Kinshasa. As for the ex-FAC, IOM reported that members have been crossing the Oubangui River into northern RoC for the last two years, and have become a source of insecurity in the region, especially as many are still armed. "Almost 100,000 refugees from the DRC are currently living in this area," IOM said. The Voix des Sans Voix (VSV), a DRC-based human rights NGO, has denounced a wave of recent arrests of ex-FAZ who had been integrated into the current national army. According to VSV, some of these soldiers have been in detention along with family members since July 2002.