00:05The Congolese Army's Deputy Chief of Staff, General Jack Chaligonza, announced the start
00:11of the operation to capture and repatriate FDL rebels in eastern DRC.
00:16The announcement was made in the northeastern city of Kisangani, which the Army designated
00:21as the rebels' main cantonment site.
00:23The FDL rebels are largely ethnic Hutus, some of whom participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide
00:30that targeted ethnic Tutsis.
00:32They fled to eastern DRC after the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Army took power in July 1994.
00:40Tensions between Kinshasa and Kigali escalated in 2021 after the M23 conflict began.
00:46A report by UN experts accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels.
00:50The experts also accused the DRC government of supporting the FDL rebels.
00:55The Congolese government's decision to disarm the Rwandan rebels comes two weeks after its
01:00officials met their Rwandan counterparts in the U.S. to discuss the implementation of
01:05a peace deal they signed in Washington last year.
01:07The FDL rebels are operating in areas controlled by the M23.
01:12Congolese authorities have urged them to lay down their weapons to avoid any confrontations.
01:17Rwanda has previously stated that its troops will only withdraw from eastern DRC after
01:22Congolese authorities disarmed the FDLR.
01:25Meanwhile, the ongoing conflict has worsened the humanitarian crisis in the DRC where more
01:31than 26 million people are facing hunger.
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