Hutu militia 'surrender'

The militia were moblised among Hutu refugees

By Chris Simpson in Kigali

Rwanda says it is making important headway in its war against the Interahamwe - the Hutu militia allegedly linked to the 1994 genocide.

The Rwandan Government says that 22 Interahamwe surrendered to its troops following successful cross-border operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The presidential defence adviser, Colonel Charles Kayonga, said the militia fighters crossed into Rwanda from DR Congo, and handed themselves in at a military base near the border on Monday.

Rwanda has frequently accused Congolese President Laurent Kabila of giving military support to the Interahamwe and other armed groups and of using them as front-line troops in the war in Congo.

Rwanda has been imprisoning Hutus suspected of genocide involvement

Rwanda says there are thousands of Interahamwe still at large in Congo, with many of them wanted by the Rwandan authorities for their alleged involvement in the genocide, in which 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were slaughtered.

Colonel Kayonga said the returnees included a senior commander believed to have played a key role in enemy military operations.

Congo occupation

For the past few years, Rwandan troops have been heavily deployed in eastern Congo, officially on a mission to secure Rwanda's western frontier and to track down and neutralise thousands of Interahamwe fighters.

To date that campaign has met with limited success. Rwanda itself may be secure but the Interahamwe and allied armed groups still carry out regular attacks and ambushes inside Congo, operating in part from bases in the hills, forests and volcanoes.

The Rwandan presence has proved highly unpopular with the local Congolese population.

Congolese critics have talked of an army of occupation and have accused Rwanda of looking to loot and plunder rather than restore stability.

Despite growing international appeals for a withdrawal of his troops, Rwandan President Paul Kagame says he first wants guarantees that Rwanda will never again be attacked from Congo.

Mr Kagame has repeatedly accused his Congolese counterpart, President Laurent Kabila, of offering every assistance to the Interahamwe and using them as part of a military coalition which also includes regular soldiers from Zimbabwe.