Rwandan Hutu Rebels Denounce Genocide, Halt War
/Rwanda's main Hutu rebel group
announced Thursday they were ending their war against Rwanda and for
the first time denounced the 1994 genocide of Tutsis that has been
blamed on many of their members. A delegation representing the rebel
organization, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda
(FDLR), made the announcement after secret negotiations at the
Sant'Egidio religious community in the heart of Rome. "The FDLR
condemns the genocide committed against Rwanda and their authors," FDLR
President Ignace Murwanashyaka said, reading from a statement.
"Henceforward, the FDLR has decided to transform its fight into a
political struggle." Hutu rebels are accused of taking part in the
massacre of 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. Until
Thursday, many FDLR fighters had denied genocide occurred, calling the
killings tit-for-tat attacks. Murwanashyaka said his group was ready to
cooperate with international justice and would lay down its arms in a
bid to end the "catastrophic humanitarian" situation in the region. The
Hutu rebels were chased out of Rwanda following the genocide, taking
refuge in the jungles of neighboring Congo. Since then they have been
at the center of tensions in the vast country's eastern region where
violence, hunger and disease have killed millions of people. [more]
