Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda was the primary anti-Rwanda rebel group during the latter part of the Second Congo War. It continues to operate, mostly within the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is composed almost entirely of Hutu ethnics opposed to Tutsi rule and influence in the region. The group is often referred to as the FDLR after its original French name: the Forces Démocratiques de la Libération du Rwanda.

The FDLR was formed in 2000 after the Kinshasa-based Hutu command and the Kivu-based Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALiR) agreed to merge. It counts among its number the original members of the Interahamwe that carried out the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. It received extensive backing from, and cooperation from, the government of Congolese President Joseph Kabila, who used the FDLR as a proxy force against the foreign armies operating in the country, in particular the Rwandan Patriotic Army and Rwanda-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy. In July 2002, FDLR units still in Kinshasa-held territory moved into North and South Kivu. At this time it was thought to have between 15,000 and 20,000 members. Even after the official end of the Second Congo War in 2002, FDLR units continued to attack Tutsi forces both in eastern DRC and across the border into Rwanda, vastly increasing tensions in the region and raising the possibility of another Rwandan offensive into the DRC - what would be their third since 1996. In mid 2004, a number of attacks forced 25,000 Congolese to flee their homes.

Following several days of talks with Congolese government representatives, the FDLR announced on 31 March 2005 that they were abandoning their armed struggle and returning to Rwanda as a political party. The talks were held in Rome, Italy and were mediated by Sant'Egidio. The Rwandan government stated that any returning genocidaires would face justice, most probably through the gacaca court system. If all of the FDLR commanders, who are believed to control about 10,000 militants, do disarm and return, a key source of cross-border tensions would be removed.^[1]

In October 4, 2005, the United Nations Security Council issued a statement demanding the FDLR to disarm and leave Democratic Republic of the Congo immediately. Under an agreement reached in August, the rebels had pledged to leave Congo by September 30.^[2]

Its leader, Ignace Murwanashyaka, was arrested in Mannheim, Germany, in April 2006, but released shortly thereafter.^[3]

In August 2007, the military announced that it was ending a seven-month offensive against the FDLR, prompting a sharp rebuke by the government of Rwanda. Prior to this, Gen. Laurent Nkunda had split from the government, taking Banyamulenge (ethnic Tutsis in the DRC) soldiers from the former Rally for Congolese Democracy and assaulting FDLR positions, displacing a further 160,000 people.^[4]

In October 2007 the International Crisis Group said that the group's military forces had dropped from an estimated 15,000 in 2001 to 6-7,000 now, organised into four battalions and a reserve brigade in North Kivu and four battalions in South Kivu.^[5] It named the political and military headquarters as Kibua and Kalonge respectively, both in the jungle covered Walikale region of North Kivu. It also said that 'about the same number' of Rwandan citizens, family members of combatants, and unrelated refugees remained behind FDLR lines in separate communities.