Africa-Press – Rwanda. The AFC/M23 rebel group has called for all militia and foreign troops operating in eastern DR Congo, especially the genocidal militia linked to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, to surrender and return to their respective home countries.
The appeal was made during a ceremony where AFC/M23 handed over 14 FDLR fighters to Rwandan authorities at the border post in Rubavu District, on Saturday, March 1.
All the 14 FDLR fighters were wearing Congolese military uniforms.
Speaking to The New Times, Oscar Balinda, a senior AFC/M23 official, emphasized that all armed groups in DR Congo should put their arms down and return to their countries.
“We are calling on them to surrender peacefully, if they have their arms and whatever they have, they have to lay them down, surrender to our army and we facilitate them go back home to their countries,” said Balinda.
“We are Congolese; we are fighting for our rights. We are asking all foreign troops to go back to their countries so that we can find a peaceful solution [to the conflict in eastern DR Congo] among Congolese.”
Oscar Balinda, a senior AFC/M23 official, speaking to journalists at the Rwanda-DR Congo border in Rubavu District, on Saturday, March 1.
FDLR is a DR Congo-based terrorist group formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Integrated into the Congolese army coalition which is battling the AFC/M23 rebel movement, the genocidal militia joined forces with Kinshasa’s allies, with a plan to attack Rwanda.
The genocidal militia’s genocidal ideology is the biggest threat to Rwanda, and the region.
Balinda also reiterated that the rebels’ call for the Burundian government to withdraw its forces from eastern DR Congo.
Early this month, Kigali announced that it had been discovered that the alliance of foreign forces deployed to eastern DR Congo, including SAMIDRC, and FDLR, had combat objectives not limited to defeating M23 but also attacking Rwanda.
A statement by the ministry of foreign affairs read: “The argument that SAMIDRC was invited by the Government of the DRC is rendered void by the fact that they are there to fight the citizens of that country, and effectively bring war to Rwanda.
According to the statement, recent information coming from Goma on what was discovered, “and the documentary evidence of attack preparations, planned together with the foreign forces fighting” in eastern DR Congo, “indicate that combat objectives were not limited to defeating M23, but also attacking Rwanda.”
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