ReliefWeb

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Sixty-seven Rwandan refugees, including five former anti-government combatants and their families returned home Tuesday through Ruzizi 1 border post in Cyangugu from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the state-owned radio reported here Wednesday.
The 16 men, 18 women and 33 children returned from Walikale, Kalehe, Masisi, Bunyakili and Kalungi districts in Northern and Southern-Kivu provinces in eastern DRC.

Among the five former fighters, two belonged to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDRL) and three from Mayi Mayi Alliance.

Officials of the United Nations Observer Mission in Congo (MONUC) accompanied the five former combatants and their families.

The civilian returnees were taken to the Nyagatare transit camp in Cyangungu before their repatriation in their villages. The former soldiers will be kept in a solidarity camp for a rehabilitation period.

More than 14,000 Rwandan refugees were repatriated from eastern DRC in 2002. An estimated 30,000 Rwandan refugees are still in eastern DRC's forests and urban centres.

An official in the Rwandan National Refugees Repatriation Committee told PANA in Kigali that all the refugees were returning voluntarily.