The Government of Rwanda says the 682 M23 rebels
who were loyal to former leader Bishop Jean Marie Runiga must denounce
military activities in writing before applying for asylum.
Rwandan Minister for Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs,
Seraphine Mukantabana, says the rebels who crossed to Rwanda during
clashes with the Sultani Makenga group cannot be considered as refugees
in Rwanda until they denounce rebellion.
Mukantabana further revealed that the Rwandan government has
transferred the former soldiers from the border with the Democratic
Republic of Congo to another place known as Ngoma far away from the
border. She says the international norms dictate that in a situation
armed rebels cross into another country, they are supposed to be
relocated to a place far from the border of their country.
Mukantabana says the rebels will be screened before they can be given
a chance to apply for refugee status under the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees.
The minister, however, says that leaving Ngoma facility will be a
gradual process depending on the ranks the rebels held while in the
bush, adding that those with lower ranks will leave earlier than their
senior commanders.
The minister says she is frustrated by the failure of the
international community to support Rwanda in managing the influx of
rebel fighters and other refugees in the country.
The rebels crossed into Rwanda more than a week ago around the same
time that war-lord Bosco Ntaganda, an ally of Runiga, surrendered to the
US embassy in Kigali. He has since been taken to the International
Criminal Court in The Hague, where he faces charges of war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
The United Nations has accused Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the
M23 rebels who have been fighting the Kinshasa government since April
last year
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