Addis Ababa--Congolese government troops have started their long-awaited offensive against Rwandan Hutu rebels in the east of the country, the DR Congo's foreign minister said Saturday The Kinshasa government and the international community had given the FDLR -- the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda -- an ultimatum to lay down their arms and surrender by January 2 or face attacks and forcible disarmament Older members of the FDLR are held responsible for taking part in the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, when at least 800,000 people, mainly from the Tutsi minority, were massacred, and the rebel group has continued to fight in the mineral-rich eastern provinces of DR Congo The action has started and will not stop until we have neutralised these negative forces," Raymond Tshibanda told AFP on the sidelines of an African Union summit being held in the Ethiopian capital ... (more)
↧