09 09 13 AFP – Congo rebels 'ready to disarm' if conditions met: leader

 

M23 chief Bertrand Bisimwa
said the army mutineers, whose rebellion has terrorised eastern DR Congo for
more than a year, would return to civilian life if the government agreed to
their demands at peace talks set to resume in Uganda after breaking down in May.

"We are ready to
disarm under two conditions: first, that the question of the FDLR be resolved,
and second, the return of the Congolese refugees living in camps" in Rwanda, Uganda
and Burundi,
he told AFP.

The M23 was founded by
former Tutsi rebels who were incorporated into the Congolese army under a 2009
peace deal.

Complaining the deal was
never fully implemented, they mutinied in April 2012, turning their guns on
their former comrades and launching the latest rebellion to ravage DR Congo's
mineral-rich but conflict-prone east.

The United Nations and
various rights groups have accused the M23 of atrocities including rape and
murder in a conflict that has caused tens of thousands of refugees to flee the
country.

The UN also accuses Rwanda's
current Tutsi leadership of backing the M23, a charge the country has adamantly
denied.

The rebels for their part
have accused the Congolese army of joining forces against them with the FDLR,
or Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which is also active in
eastern DR Congo where its members fled in the wake of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Some FDLR members are
wanted on charges of taking part in the genocide, when Hutu extremists killed
around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

"We don't want them
(the FDLR) on our territory anymore," said Bisimwa, calling for the Hutu
group to be "neutralised" and Tutsi refugees returned.

The M23 have recently
retreated from their positions around the key eastern city of Goma in the face of a fresh offensive by the
army and a new UN combat force created to fight the rebels.

Speaking three days after
declaring the M23 was willing to resume peace talks, Bisimwa said Sunday the
rebels were ready to become civilians again.

"The M23 isn't
interested in joining the army or the Congolese government," he said.

"That army's not
attractive," he added. "The M23 is ready to demobilise and return to
civilian life."