A recent UN report on the crisis in the DRC says that Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) rebels attacked a refugee camp of Kinyandoni in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing a number of people and wounding several hundreds.

A number of reasons explain why these militias have gone on a killing spree in the last couple of months. FDLR is increasingly becoming desperate, with its commanders deserting every day.

The recent resignations of some commanders of FDLR and many others have seriously crippled the group’s morale and left it in a state of serious dilemma.

The UN and the country hosting them are no longer their best allies and, though feebly, are actually leading a disarmament and possible repatriation campaign against the group.

The FDLR have in reaction been pushing for talks with Kigali so that they may be recognised as a political party fighting for a just cause.

But alas, they are not fighting any just war. They are bandits who have been involved in all criminal activities against humanity that you may think of, since the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda.

FDLR is the core group of killers that had a very big hand in organising and implementing the 1994 Genocide. When their regime was defeated, they headed to the jungles of DRC where they continued the same killings based on the very ideology.

The group, however, didn’t remain ‘coherent’ and the nature of humanity was at work to destabilise it. Conflict of interest and status-group differences saw some of them fly to different countries in the world including Europe and America, while others remained in the jungles.

Life in the jungles of DRC was not easy for those who were used to easy and soft life due to their status in the ousted regime. They, however, had all that was needed to fly away from the hostile environment.

Because their allies were still very close to them, arrangements to go to France, Belgium and other countries were immediately organised. They thus left the forests with the help of their friends and promised to continue working with those who remained behind.

Those who were involved in the Genocide but were not so influential and actually lacked enough money to fly away adapted and adopted the jungle life.

This is the group that is still living in the Congo forests, commonly known as FDLR today. Whereas some of the fugitives who are in European countries were nabbed and brought to justice, those who are in the forests of DRC still remain at large.

Their stay in the jungles is no longer tenable. They have managed to escape justice for this long and I do not see them deciding to come back to Rwanda soon. The group leaders are those people who committed some of the most heinous crimes ever to be recorded in the history of humanity.

They are big criminals and they are aware of that. That is why their own conscience does not allow them to join others in efforts to reconcile the nation.

In fact, sometimes they amuse me when they say that they want peace talks with the Rwandan government. Why don’t they use words in their proper context and ask for peace talks with the ‘survivors’ of the Genocide in Rwanda?

FDLR has not in the ‘real sense’ been at war with the Rwandan government but has been at war with its guilt consciousness and ideology.

After 14 years of sticking to the genocide ideology with little or no success, some of them have returned to Rwanda where to their great disbelief, they received good treatment.

It is therefore a battle of the mind and the whole issue remains baffling. FDLR is hence fighting a very difficult war of the mind that it will not win if it does not come to agreement with reality.

What do I call the reality here? Most killers surprisingly fail to understand how a whole society of people who were murdered and traumatised can forgive so easily, which is what is on the ground. 

They are kept in subjection to this belief by their devious leaders, because they are being used.
The fact that they have been out of the country for a number of years, has left them behind all developing events.

They do not know where to begin! They therefore need some psychological help so that they may come back to their senses and come back to Rwanda. They should forget the fear of facing justice and stop condemning themselves to more crimes in the Congo.

Contact: mugitoni@yahoo.com