After the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, perpetrators including members of the FAR (Forces Armées Rwandaise), fled to Zaire (current DR Congo) where they regrouped to form armed and political groups to attack Rwanda. On 3 April 1995, RDR (Rassemblement pour le Retour des Refugiés et la Democratie au Rwanda or Rally for the Return of Refugees and Democracy in Rwanda) was established in Mugunga refugee camp in Eastern Zaire It birthed many other negative forces and terror groups we know today including MRCD/FLN (Mouvement Rwandais pour le Changement Démocratique/ Front de Libération Nationale) of Paul Rusesabagina. The RDR was founded by Gen Augustin Bizimungu, Brig Gen Gratien Kabiligi, among others. Gen Bizimungu was convicted of genocide crimes and sentenced in 2011 to 30 years in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The RDR was primarily formed as a mechanism to evade the embargo imposed on the exiled government , which had moved its operations to Zaire. The image of the exiled government was tainted by its association to the genocide. The RDR served as an intermediary between refugees and the international community. In an interview with the Sunday Times in 2005, Rusesabagina mentioned his relations with Gen Bizimungu, and asserted I was with General Bizimungu and got him a drink…….” This was during the genocide when General Bizimungu had frequent visits at the Hotel Mille Colline. Infiltrations into Rwanda by Ex FAR soldiers christened “Operation Insecticides” had started at the beginning of 1996 and needed financial support. Soldiers sold vehicles and properties they had seized from Rwanda to raise funds. The disagreement over funds and the imperative of demarcating the line between the military and civilians led to a new round of discussions which birthed the Armed People for the Liberation of Rwanda (PALIR) with an armed wing called ALIR (Armé pour la Liberation du Rwanda). The military defeat of ALIR and its inclusion on the US list of terrorist organization after the killings of American, British and Australian tourists in Bwindi forest on March 2, 1999 weakened their hand in the negotiations with the DRC Government. Due to other internal wrangles, the Democratic Forces for Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) was created on 14 January 1999. On 12 September 2004, Jean Marie Vianney Higiro and Felicien Kanyamibwa parted ways with the FDLR to form RUD Urunana (Rally for Unity and Democracy). According to SMS exchanges of 17 May 2008, revealed during the trial of Ignace Murwananashyaka, there was collaboration between Rusesabagina and the FDLR battalion based in Walikale, DR Congo. Rusesabagina’s PDR-Ihumure formed an alliance with several opposition groups including FDLR and RUD-Urunana. In 2005, the internal disputes between FDLR Commander Gen Sylvestre Mudacumura and one of his brigade commanders Col Jean Damascene Ndibabaje, alias Musare, led to the creation of AN Imboneza, an armed group that allied to RUD Urunana. On May 31, 2016, a split within the FDLR gave birth to yet another group, the National Council for Renewal and Democracy or CNRD-Ubwiyunge. It’s leader, Gen Wilson Irategeka who was the 2nd Vice President of FDLR, had decided to quit following months of disagreements with President Gen Victor Byiringiro. One of the reasons for the conflict was the biometric census of Rwandan refugees backed by Irategeka but opposed to by Byiringiro. A few months before his arrest, Paul Rusesabagina explained the origins of FLN and MRCD in a virtual press conference. “We started MRCD in November 2016. It was a coalition of CNRD-Ubwiyunge led by Wilson Irategeka and PDR-Ihumure led by me. After a long discussion we set five pillars under one platform. The first pillar is what is being carried out by our soldiers. The second was diplomacy, the third was mobilization, the fourth was communication and the fifth was Finance. We worked together and, in the end of 2017, our brothers from Rwanda Revolutionary Movement (RRM) led by Callixte Nsabimana wanted to join us. After a long discussion, RRM was accepted in March 2018 and we were successful in our executions and that’s when we started asking ourselves the name we will give our soldiers”. He added “We called them FLN because RRM brought its soldiers as well which meant we had to get an inclusive name. Since then, our boys were named FLN and that’s why FLN doesn’t belong to PDR, CNRD or RRM, it is under MRCD.” In 2007, Paul Rusesabagina had traveled to Cape Town for meetings with the FDLR that, at the time, was conducting an armed struggle against Rwanda. Speaking at the University of Central Florida, Rusesabagina repeatedly called the FDLR a “Rwandan liberation movement.” He also told a journalist on June 18, 2019 while receiving Faustin Twagiramungu in the MRCD platform that “You have to keep in your mind that the FDLR are the children of Rwanda, if MRCD wins, we will have the FDLR back home in Rwanda”
