08 11 13 Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Uganda says 1,700 M23 fighters surrender

 

"Some
are armed and others are unarmed. We are assembling them and screening them and
giving them medical treatment," said Robert Ngabirano, a spokesman for the
Ugandan military.

The M23
on Tuesday said it would immediately lay down its arms and pursue a political
solution to its 20-month rebellion in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The move
came after the rebels suffered heavy losses in a major offensive by the
Congolese army and UN forces.

The M23
fighters who surrendered are being held in Kisoro, a town 480 kilometres west
of Uganda's capital Kampala.

Ngabirano
denied reports that the key M23 military chief Sultan Makenga was among them.

"We
do not have Sultan Makenga among those who have given up the war and came to Uganda. He is
not among them," Ngabirano told dpa.

Congolese
and international officials have indicated that the rank and file of M23 will
be given amnesty if they lay down their arms. M23 leaders are likely to be
tried for war crimes in Congo,
or the International Criminal Court in The
Hague.

The
collapse of M23is the first time since 1996 that Kigali
does not have a player in the volatile eastern Congo. Analysts say this could be
the best chance for peace in the region for nearly two decades.

The UN
said Rwanda and Uganda have
supplied M23 with weapons and support, which both countries deny.

The
Congolese government and the UN have promised to now go after other rebel
groups in the region, including the FDLR militia which is comprised of many
Hutu fighters who took part in the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

The
spillover of the conflict from Rwanda
into Congo
following the genocide was a key trigger is sparking the deadly civil war in
the massive central African nation, which left over 5 million people dead from
disease, violence and hunger.

While
most fighting in Congo
stopped in 2003, the east remains a hot-spot for violence.