(NSI News Source Info) KINSHASA - February 9, 2009: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is urging Rwandan rebels holed up in the east of the central African country to lay down arms before negotiating for a way out, a government official has announced.
Communication Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga made the remarks on Friday after the rebel leader called for negotiations and a halt of the Congolese-Rwandan military operation that was launched on Jan. 20.
"No serious government could negotiate with armed foreigners on its territory," Mende said, adding that the negotiations in question could be held in Rwanda rather than in DR Congo, and between the rebels and Kigali rather than Kinshasa. 
Rwandan and Congolese forces are hunting down thousands of Hutu rebels in rural eastern Congo in an operation intended to address the root cause of 15 years of conflict in Congo. A Congolese fighter from the pro-government Mai-Mai militia was one of those searching in the village of Kalenge near the front line.
The minister also said Rwandan Hutus wishing to stay in DR Congo must seek a refugee status "without arms."
Earlier in the day, Ignace Murwanashyaka, president of the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), appealed to both DR Congo and Rwanda to stop the joint operation, saying he was ready to negotiate with them.
In his statement, Murwanashyaka demanded guarantees for the security of the FDLR combatants in Rwanda.
The FDLR is linked to the 1994 massacre in Rwanda in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Rwandans were killed. The perpetrators fled to DR Congo's North Kivu province afterwards.
The rebels have since become a root cause of DR Congo's internal conflicts and tensions with Rwanda, which sent troops twice in the 1990s in cross-border attacks on the FDLR fighters.
In a turnaround from the two countries' long-standing hostilities, Kinshasa and Kigali began to seek the normalization of ties late last year and decided to join hands in a military operation in North Kivu against both Congolese Tutsi and Rwandan Hutu rebels.
Rwandan and Congolese forces are hunting down thousands of Hutu rebels in rural eastern Congo in an operation intended to address the root cause of 15 years of conflict in Congo. A Congolese fighter from the pro-government Mai-Mai militia was one of those searching in the village of Kalenge near the front line.
The minister also said Rwandan Hutus wishing to stay in DR Congo must seek a refugee status "without arms."
Earlier in the day, Ignace Murwanashyaka, president of the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), appealed to both DR Congo and Rwanda to stop the joint operation, saying he was ready to negotiate with them.
In his statement, Murwanashyaka demanded guarantees for the security of the FDLR combatants in Rwanda.
The FDLR is linked to the 1994 massacre in Rwanda in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Rwandans were killed. The perpetrators fled to DR Congo's North Kivu province afterwards.
The rebels have since become a root cause of DR Congo's internal conflicts and tensions with Rwanda, which sent troops twice in the 1990s in cross-border attacks on the FDLR fighters.
In a turnaround from the two countries' long-standing hostilities, Kinshasa and Kigali began to seek the normalization of ties late last year and decided to join hands in a military operation in North Kivu against both Congolese Tutsi and Rwandan Hutu rebels.
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