Agathon Rwasa

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Agathon Rwasa is a former Burundian Hutu militia leader and the leader of the National Liberation Forces (Forces pour la Liberation Nationale, FNL).

Rwasa was reported to be a Born-again Christian.^[1]

Burundi was ruled by the minority Tutsi UPRONA from independence in 1962 until the 1993 election which was won by the majority Hutu FRODEBU party. Three months later the new president was assassinated and UPRONA took power back in a military coup. Two groups - the CNDD-FDD and PALIPEHUTU-FNL started an armed rebellion against the military government which became the Burundi Civil War.

In 2002, Agathon Rwasa seized control of most of the FNL from the then leader, Cossan Kabura.

Agathon's FNL was linked to three of the worst incidents of the civil war:

The Titanic Express massacre in December 2000
The massacre of 152 Banyamulenge Congolese refugees at Gatumba in August 2004
The killing of Monsignor Michael Courtney, the Catholic Church's chief representative in Burundi

Following the Gatamba masscre, South African President Thabo Mbeki called on Rwasa to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court and the Great Lakes Regional Peace Initiative declared the FNL as a terrorist organisation. The Burundian government also issued an arrest warrant for Rwasa.

The FNL has also been accused of using hundreds of child soldiers, and for killing and maiming children.^[2]

The FNL also intervened in the Second Congo War.

In September 2006 the FNL signed a peace deal with the government. ^[3]

In January 2007 it was alleged that Rwasa had demanded $12m to stop killing people.