Goma, 13 October 2009 - Last week, MONUC’s Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Resettlement and Reintegration (DDRRR) section visited 374 ex combatants hosted in the reintegration camp of Mutobo in Rwanda, to encourage them to sensitize others to join the DDRRR process.
In Mutobo camp, run by the Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission (RDRC), each ex combatant stays in the camp for two to three months to undergo the reintegration process before entering civilian life in Rwanda.
During a question and answer session, DDRRR North Kivu team leader Herve Hesse responded to questions regarding the ex combatants’ colleagues who remain in eastern DRC.
He assured them that efforts were being made to minimize the obstacles blocking their compatriots’ entry into the DDRRR process.
“Don’t be an egoist. If you are doing well in Rwanda, then call on your friends in the DR Congo to also return,” he said.
The ex-combatants assured the DDRRR team and MONUC that they will do their best to ensure that their colleagues return and join them in Rwanda. However they called on the RDRC and MONUC to facilitate a telephone connection between them and other FDLR combatants still in the forest.
The RDRC and MONUC’s DDRRR section agreed in principle to provide telephone facilities that will allow the ex-combatants in Mutobo in Rwanda to encourage FDLR combatants to return home, and the process will be scrupulously supervised by both the RDRC and MONUC’s DDRRR section.
According to MONUC statistics for the first nine months of the year, MONUC’s DDRRR section has repatriated 1,592 Rwandan ex -combatants including 1,126 FDLR as well as 1,621 of their dependents.
Since the start of its programme in December 2002, MONUC’s DDRRR section has repatriated close to 8,000 Rwandan ex-combatants (mostly FDLR), as well as an equal number of dependents.