05 02 14 Reuters – U.N. Congo peacekeepers question Rwandan rebel disarmament claim

The
claims by the FDLR rebel group came as U.N. forces in Democratic Republic
of Congoprepared
to target the insurgents in coming months after a successful campaign alongside
Congolese government troops against local Tutsi-led rebels last year. Rwanda has
repeatedly rejected calls for talks with the rebels.

The
Rwandan rebels have been at the heart of two decades of conflict in eastern
Congo since Rwanda's genocide. Their presence there has often been cited by
Kigali as justification for sending its troops across the
border.

While
their numbers have dwindled to a few thousand in recent years, previous peace
initiatives have floundered and they are seen as an obstacle to peace in the
mineral-rich zone.

General
Victor Byiringiro, the FDLR's interim leader also known as Gaston Iyamuremye,
told French radio RFI this week that his men had started disarming but that they
wanted African leaders to support talks with the government in
Kigali.

"We
can confirm our president's statement and we are carrying it (disarmament) out
now," Colonel Wilson Irategeka, the FDLR's interim executive secretary, told
Reuters on Tuesday.

"The
international community must now help us to make Kigali … accept negotiations
with opposition political parties, including the FDLR," he
added.

"NOTHING
NEW"

However,
a spokesman for the 21,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as
MONUSCO, said the rebels had in the past promised to disarm without doing so and
that there was no evidence of it taking place this time.

"We
are monitoring the situation of course, but to us this is nothing new,"
the spokesman said.

The
FDLR was officially set up in 2000 by mainly Hutu Rwandan gunmen operating in
eastern Congo, where the remnants of the extremist Hutu militia fled after they
were defeated by the Tutsi-led army that ended Rwanda's
genocide.

Kigali
has previously refused talks with the rebels, accusing them of still wanting to
exterminate Tutsis.

But
the rebels, and some analysts, say most FDLR fighters played no role in the
slaughter of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in
1994.

Brigadier
General Joseph Nzabamwita, spokesman for Rwanda's army, did not comment on
claims the FDLR had started to disarm, saying only: "MONUSCO and Congo have a
long overdue obligation to militarily eradicate FDLR genocide criminals from
Congo."

Following
the genocide, Rwanda sent its army into Congo, where millions of people have
died in a series of conflicts that saw neighbors back local rebel forces in
clashes over power, mineral riches and ethnic tensions.

Congo
and U.N. experts accused Rwanda of backing the Tutsi-led M23 rebels that were
defeated late last year. Kigali denies this and has accused Kinshasa of
collaborating with the FDLR.

Underscoring
regional tensions over the armed groups, Tanzania called on Rwanda to hold talks
with its rebels, an appeal that was angrily rejected by
Kigali.

(Additional
reporting by Pete Jones in Kinshasa and Jenny Clover in Kigali; Writing
byDavid
Lewis;
Editing by Gareth
Jones)