By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

BERLIN, Germany-Today, two leaders of a Rwandan Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), were arrested in Germany on suspicion of human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Ignace Murwanashyaka, the leader of FDLR, and Straton Musoni, his aide, were accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their involvement as leaders with the “terrorist” group.

The United Nations has been pressuring Germany for years to arrest Murwanashyaka and Musoni. Murwanashyaka has served as the leader of the FDLR since 2001 according to prosecutors.

The FDLR was founded in the Congolese town of Lumumbashi in 2000, and is a Hutu extremist group comprised of Hutu refugees from Rwanda who fled across the border in Congo after the 1994 genocide, where close to 800,00 ethnic Tutsis were killed in Rwanda.

“As part of this armed conflict, the FDLR militias are believed to have killed several hundred civilians, raped numerous women, plundered and burned countless villages, forcing villagers from their homes and recruiting numerous children as soldiers,” the statement said.  One veteran UN official, Gregory Alex, spoke on how the arrest is important because of Murwanashyaka’s importance to FDLR as the highest-ranking leader of the group.  Julien Paluku, the governor of North Kivu, a province in eastern Congo said, “I think the arrest of Murwanashyaka will have a psychological impact on the morale of FDLR’s militiamen who could be discouraged by this arrest.”

Murwanashyaka has lived in Germany since before the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He has since maintained that his men, which are believed to include over 5,000 Hutu refugees, were involved in the genocide, and says they are currently fighting to bring democracy to Rwanda.

For more information please see:

AFP – Hutu Extremist Leaders Arrested In Germany – 17 November 2009

AP – Hutu Extremist Group Leaders Arrested In Germany – 17 November 2009

BBC – Germany Arrests Top Rwanda Rebels – 17 November 2009