KINSHASA, Congo: Congo, in a deal with neighboring Rwanda, has agreed to disarm Rwandan Hutu rebels based on its territory, officials from both nations said, bringing the neighbors a step closer to resolving a primary source of tension.
For years, the vast forests in eastern Congo, which border Rwanda, have served as a refugee for men accused of orchestrating that country's 1994 genocide.
Under the agreement, announced Sunday in Nairobi, Kenya, after a meeting of the country's foreign ministers, Congo will seek to disarm the Interahamwe, the extremist Hutu militia, including by force if necessary.
Congo will prepare a disarmament plan by Dec. 1, which it will share with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo as well as with Rwanda. Congo commits itself to "launch military operations to dismantle" the remaining Hutu cells, the joint statement says.
The presence of thousands of members of the Interahamwe, the Hutu militia, in Congo's lawless east has been a source of friction between the two countries for more than a decade.
Rwanda accused Congo of providing support to the "genocidaires," who were using Congo as a base to further destabilize Rwanda. Twice, in 1996 and 1998, Rwanda sent troops across the border into Congo to try to crush the insurgents.
The 100-day genocide killed more than half-a-million people in Rwanda, ending when Tutsi-led rebels ousted the extremist government that had carried out the slaughter.
Rebels disarmed by Congo's military will be registered with the United Nations. Those who are wanted for genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity will be arrested and repatriated to Rwanda or handed over to an international tribunal dealing with the genocide.
"We have put in place the mechanisms for putting a definitive end to these residual forces which have continued to menace our people," said Congolese Foreign Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi.
Rwanda, in turn, agreed to secure its border and to make sure that no cross-border support reaches armed groups on the Congolese side, particularly the army of Laurent Nkunda, an ethnic Tutsi.
Nkunda rules over an army of thousands in the thick undergrowth straddling the border between the two countries. Skirmishes between Congo's army and Nkunda's and other armed groups in the east has caused between 400,000 and 500,000 people to flee their homes since January, according to the U.N.
