Some 160 former combatants repatriated

Some 160 Burundian former combatants were repatriated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Sunday via Gatumba transit site on the Burundian side of the border, escorted from the eastern DRC town of Bukavu by Uruguayan soldiers serving with the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUC. The ex-combatants were handed over to Burundi's National Committee for the Rehabilitation of War Victims (CNRS - Commission Nationale de Rehabilitation des Sinistres ). The 161 combatants - including six women who were either combatants themselves or wives of combatants - served with the Conseil National pour la Defense de la Democratie/Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD/FDD) factions of Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye and Pierre Nkurunziza. Timothy Reed, in charge of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme at MONUC's Bukavu office, told reporters at Gatumba that the repatriation operations would continue. "But we do not know the exact number of Burundian combatants on Congolese soil," he said. On Monday, nearly all ex-combatants - each escorted by a member of the CNRS and a government soldier - were sent back to their native provinces aboard buses. CNRS chairman Frederick Bamvuginyumvira said all local administrations had been informed of the ex-combatants' arrival, and would organise onward transport to their villages. "Most of them come from the provinces of Ruyigi, Rutana or Muyinga," he said. At 10:00 am local time, only seven people remained at Gatumba transit site, most of them originally from Bujumbura Rural Province, unable to return because of continued fighting in the region. "They will be sheltered by friends or relatives in Bujumbura suburbs while waiting to go home," Bamvuginyumvira said. All ex-combatants were provided with a two-week return packet, and would rejoin their families in what Bamvuginyumvira described as "difficult living conditions". "However, I have seen the conditions they were living in at Bukavu camp where they spent almost 11 months, it was almost a prison, and I believe they cannot be worse here," he said. Bamvuginyumvira also announced that the CNRS had some 100 million Burundian francs (about US $100,000) available for modest loans to war victims, including former combatants, to help them start small businesses. The repatriation of former combatants to Burundi follows a series of consultations between MONUC and Burundian authorities. A CNRS delegation recently visited eastern DRC to meet the ex-combatants, who had handed their weapons over to MONUC and were living as civilians. Hutu rebel groups have used eastern DRC for years as a rear base from which to attack Burundi. They have also been blamed for many atrocities committed in the DRC.