Rwanda’s National Commission for Demobilization and Reintegration of ex-combatants (RDRC) said Friday that it has received more than 200 fighters from armed groups this year, none of whom were sent by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Gen. Maj. (Rtd) Jacques Nziza, vice president of the RDRC, made the announcement to military attachés from foreign embassies during a visit to the commission’s Mutobo center in Musanze District on Nov. 28.
The June 27, 2025, peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC calls for the DRC army to dismantle the FDLR armed group, following the CONOPS plan approved during the Luanda talks in October 2024. Under the plan, any offensive against FDLR fighters should be preceded by campaigns urging them to surrender. Those who refuse are to be targeted by the FARDC, the DRC’s military.
Nziza said that while FARDC issued a statement on Oct. 10 prohibiting its soldiers from cooperating with the FDLR and conducting campaigns to encourage fighters to surrender, the DRC government has shown little willingness to repatriate Rwandans in armed groups. In the past, it regularly released fighters.
“It is important to know that before January this year, last year, and earlier, every three months here in Mutobo we received up to 30 former combatants and their families,” Nziza said.
He said more than 200 fighters have returned this year from North and South Kivu provinces, areas controlled by the M23 armed group, which opposes the DRC government.
“Since January this year, we have received over 200. Not a single person we received was sent by the DRC government or came from areas not controlled by armed groups. These people came from Goma, Bukavu, and Lubero,” Nziza said.
Rwandan fighters who wish to return hand themselves over to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), which transfers them to Rwanda. On Nov. 25, 15 fighters returned along with seven family members.
