DRC army claims fresh win against Hutu Rwandan militia

BUKAVU, DR Congo: The army in DR Congo said on Sunday it has driven out Hutu Rwandan rebels from their bases in the east of the country, a few weeks after having killed their leader.

Troops launched a campaign on Tuesday against the CNRD — an offshoot of the FDLR militia — in South Kivu region, which borders Rwanda and Burundi, military spokesman Dieudonne Kasereka told AFP.

“Since Saturday, we have dislodged these rebels from their headquarters and recaptured all the areas that were previously under their control,” he added. The rebels had fled towards the National Park of Kahuzi Biega, and the army will launch a major operation to flush them out and destroy them, said Kasereka.

The park, which lies 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of Bukavu, and its 600 square kilometres is the last refuge of the lowland gorilla, an endangered species. In mid-September the army announced it had killed Sylvestre Mudacumura, commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). He was wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges. On November 10, they said they had killed another FDLR leader, Musabimana Juvenal, also known as General Jean-Michel Africa.

The FDLR was created by Rwandan Hutu refugees in eastern DRC after the 1994 genocide of Tutsis by the majority Hutus in Rwanda. According to the United Nations, at the beginning of 2019, the force numbered between 500 and 600 active fighters.