67 former Rwandan combatants to go home

The first group of Rwandan Hutu ex-combatants, who have been disarmed by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of the Pretoria agreement, are to return to Rwanda on Saturday, the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC) confirmed to IRIN. The 67 ex-combatants (who are accompanied by 17 dependants) are part of a group of 2,000 which the government has disarmed and stationed in a military camp at Kamina, Katanga province. For the last week MONUC has been waiting for the go-ahead from the Rwandan government prior to repatriating them. "The Rwandan government has taken this time to examine the information forms to assure itself," Amos Namanga Ngongi, the UN special representative to the DRC, told journalists in Kinshasa. "It consists of an exploratory expedition which will assure the other ex-combatants who have remained in the DRC of the conditions in Rwanda," said Peter Swarbrick, Chief of the disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation, reinsertion and reintegration (DDRRR) division of MONUC. "The return of the others will depend on the information that the first group sends back," said Ngongi. Swarbrick aded that logistical preparations including buses to take them, their reception in Kigali, and other modalities had yet to be organised.