The Congolese government said in an address on national television on Tuesday that a militia operating in the east of the country, linked to Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, has agreed to disarm and demobilise.
Under a surrender protocol, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) also reportedly agreed to return to Rwanda or a third country that would accept them.
They also pledged that those targeted by the courts will be brought to justice. In return, the FDLR have set security conditions for their confinement in a camp far from the combat zone in eastern DRC.
Their disarmament is a key step towards implementing a United States-brokered peace deal between the Congo and neighbouring Rwanda.
The Congo-based FDLR includes remnants of Rwanda's former army and militias responsible for the 1994 genocide.
