DRC Extradites Two Rebel Hutu Leaders To Rwanda

The government in the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Monday it had extradited two leaders of the Rwanda Hutu FDLR rebels to Rwanda, as part of a legal agreement.

"These two people were subject to arrest warrants, wanted by the legal authorities in their country," said government spokesperson Lambert Mende.

DRC Extradites Two Rebel Hutu Leaders To Rwanda

"We extradited them as part of a judicial co-operation agreement between the DRC and Rwanda," he added.

One of the two men extradited was Bazeye Fils La Forge, spokesman for the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR).

In mid-December, the Congolese authorities confirmed an announcement by the Rwandan authorities that they had arrested the two leaders in DRC.

The FDLR, founded in 2000, has been fighting in eastern DRC for decades.

The authorities in Kigali say the group's leaders took part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which some 800 000 people, mainly minority Tutsis, were slaughtered by the military and by Hutu militias.