Musanze, Rwanda – Jean Claude Hategekimana feared that returning to Rwanda may price him his life. After years with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), he determined to depart the armed group and return house. At Rwanda’s Mutobo Demobilisation and Reintegration Centre, he started getting ready for civilian life.
Born in 1996 in Rutsiro District, in western Rwanda, Hategekimana moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) along with his mother and father and grew up in an space managed by the FDLR. He joined the group in 2018, underwent navy coaching and finally reached the rank of captain.
“I arrived on the Mutobo Centre after combating to defend Goma. Following our defeat, I fled to Masisi. After realising that I used to be combating for nothing, I made a decision to return to Rwanda. I got here again on February 24,” he advised Al Jazeera.
Hategekimana stated FDLR members had been taught that anybody who returned to Rwanda can be killed.
“Upon arriving in Rwanda, I realised that the FDLR had been mendacity to us. For me, returning house felt like embarking on a suicide mission,” he stated.
His expertise illustrates the problem of reintegrating former fighters whose beliefs and fears have been formed by years in an armed group.
Rebuilding civilian life
Francis Musoni, secretary-general of the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Fee, stated the Mutobo centre, situated in Musanze in Rwanda’s Northern Province, was established in 2001 to obtain members of the FDLR and different Rwandan armed teams coming back from the DRC.
The FDLR emerged within the aftermath of the 1994 genocide towards the Tutsis. After the genocide, members of the previous Rwandan armed forces and militia teams fled to what was then Zaire, now the DRC. The Rwandan authorities accuses the FDLR of finishing up assaults towards Rwanda and contributing to cross-border insecurity.
At Mutobo, the rehabilitation programme contains medical care, psychosocial assist, civic training and help with reconnecting with households. Returnees can even contact relations and buddies by a phone service, Musoni stated.
“We assist them to construct confidence amongst themselves, construct belief, and empower them to return into the neighborhood and contribute to the event of the nation along with their households,” he stated.
The centre additionally permits guests and media representatives to satisfy returnees. Musoni stated these present process rehabilitation can go to their communities for brief intervals to assist rebuild their confidence in returning house.
“They’ll journey to their communities [during rehabilitation]. They’re given written permission for every week or two, and we even facilitate transport,” he stated.
Totally different journeys house
For the previous commanders interviewed by Al Jazeera at Mutobo, the choice to depart the FDLR was formed by household ties, disillusionment and issues about private security.
Main-Normal Anastase Munyaneza served within the former Rwandan armed forces in Kigali’s Kicukiro District throughout the 1994 genocide. He stated he left Rwanda after the genocide and later joined the FDLR, finally commanding its South Kivu sector.
Though he had come to just accept the group’s beliefs, Munyaneza remained in touch along with his household in Rwanda. Information of their lives made him query his personal circumstances.
“I used to be the one one who had fled to the DRC. I usually acquired information about them. I knew they had been nonetheless alive, attending faculty, working for the federal government and enhancing their lives. I started asking myself what I used to be doing within the forest,” he stated.
He added that seeing different members return safely inspired him to think about going house.
Munyaneza stated he contacted personnel from the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), who transported him from South Kivu to Bukavu after which to the Congolese-Rwandan border. He subsequently proceeded to Mutobo.
Lieutenant-Colonel Idrissa Bizimana, who was accountable for ideology, propaganda and recruitment throughout the FDLR, stated his resolution to return adopted a change in his convictions.
“I now not believed within the ideology I had been selling. After receiving verified details about what was taking place in Rwanda, I made a decision to return house,” he stated.
Bizimana stated he had been in touch with a MONUSCO basic who had supplied to assist him return. Utilizing a satellite tv for pc telephone geared up with GPS, he despatched his location and the date. A helicopter was then dispatched to retrieve him, he stated.
Lieutenant-Colonel Emilien Mpakaniye, who joined the FDLR in 1998 and was accountable for financial affairs at its headquarters, stated he started questioning the organisation after changing into disillusioned with what he described as its lies.
Colonel Augustin Nshimiyimana, a former FDLR intelligence commander, returned to Rwanda in 2022 and underwent rehabilitation at Mutobo. He stated he determined to depart after one other commander accused him of working with Rwanda following a disagreement over a mission in Bujumbura.
Nshimiyimana stated the accusation made him concern for his life.
“After they accuse you of working with Rwanda, it means they think about you a Tutsi, and the subsequent step is to kill you,” he stated.
Getting ready for a brand new life
At Mutobo, former fighters obtain training and sensible assist to arrange for all times after discharge.
Febronie Mukankiko, a trainer on the centre, stated educating individuals who grew up within the forest required a distinct strategy.
“Our college students are completely different from peculiar college students. They’re adults who grew up within the forest, so educating them requires particular abilities. We endure further coaching to make sure that we will educate them successfully,” she stated.
She added that finishing their research could possibly be a major achievement for these with restricted entry to formal training.
“After they graduate and obtain their certificates, they’re very comfortable,” she stated.
Musoni stated the typical keep on the centre was 5 months, after which returnees accomplished a proper discharge course of. He stated help may embody monetary assist, vocational coaching, formal training and assist establishing income-generating actions. The fee additionally follows up with former residents to evaluate how they’re adjusting to life of their communities.
For individuals who have spent years away from Rwanda, leaving Mutobo marks the beginning of one other transition: discovering work, reconnecting with household and adjusting to civilian society.
For Mpakaniye, disillusionment got here partly from the distinction between the lives of senior commanders’ households and people of peculiar fighters.
“First, their relations stay in Rwanda and in Europe, whereas ours are within the forest,” he stated.
