Rwanda: Another Civil War Fades Away

Another Civil War Fades Away

September 25, 2006: In Burundi, FNL rebels have begun gathering in Bubanza and Bujumbura Rural provinces for the last week. Many of the FNL fighters in Bujumbura Rural have been in camps across the Congo border. Some 400 fighters belonging to another FNL faction have reportedly assembled in Bururi province (south Burundi).

September 16, 2006: A large group of Rwandans who survived the 1994 genocide participated in a protest in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. The genocide survivors called on global leaders to act to end the genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.

September 12, 2006: The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda sentenced former Rwandan Army lieutenant-colonel Tharcisse Muvunyi to 25 years in prison. Muvunyi was accused of failing to stop genocidal massacres carried by his soldiers in his unit and for failing to punish the killers (ie, during the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda). In one specific case, Muvunyi was accused of permitting his troops to kill a group of orphans who were hiding in a school.

September 7, 2006: The FNL (Forces for National Liberation) and the Burundian government signed a ceasefire agreement. Negotiations had been taking place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. How the "demobilization process" for FNL fighters will proceed has not been precisely determined but many FNL fighters will be "integrated" into the Burundian national police and the army. FNL fighters are supposed to begin assembling by September 21.

September 5, 2006: A grenade attack in Bujumbura killed four people and wounded 12. The grenade attack came as FNL and government representatives said they had reached a tentative ceasefire agreement.