GOOD NEWS - Rwandan Hutu Rebels Denounce Genocide, Halt War

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=5&u=/nm/20050331/wl_nm/rwanda_rebels_dc

Rwandan Hutu Rebels Denounce Genocide, Halt War

Thu Mar 31, 5:06 PM ET
World - Reuters
By Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) - Rwanda's main Hutu rebel group announced on Thursday they were ending their war against Rwanda and for the first time denounced the 1994 genocide of Tutsis that has been blamed on many of their members.

A delegation representing the rebel organization, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), made the announcement after secret negotiations at the Sant'Egidio religious community in the heart of Rome.

"The FDLR condemns the genocide committed against Rwanda and their authors," FDLR President Ignace Murwanashyaka said, reading from a statement. "Henceforward, the FDLR has decided to transform its fight into a political struggle."

Hutu rebels are accused of taking part in the massacre of 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. Until Thursday, many FDLR fighters had denied genocide occurred, calling the killings tit-for-tat attacks.

(snip - more at link)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/international/africa/01rwanda.html?ex=1112936400&en=47861442d88c917a&ei=5099&partner=TOPIX

Rebels in Congo Say They'll End Cross-Border Raids in Rwanda
By MARC LACEY

Published: April 1, 2005

NAIROBI, Kenya, March 31 - A group of Rwandan rebels, accused of massacring Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda in 1994, acknowledged Thursday for the first time that genocide had occurred and agreed to halt military attacks against Rwanda from their hideaways in eastern Congo.

(snip)

Rwanda sent troops into Congo in 1996 and 1998 to root out the predominantly Hutu rebels. The incursions prompted a vicious war that eventually drew in six countries. In recent months, citing border attacks by the rebels, Mr. Kagame has threatened another foray.

The Hutu rebel group, which Mr. Kagame says is the instigating force and which is known by its French initials, F.D.L.R., has long refused to label the killings in Rwanda genocide. Members have contended that many Hutu were killed by Tutsi soldiers during the fighting in 1994, making the events there more confused than they are portrayed.

But in a statement after talks organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio, a religious group promoting peace, the rebels said they "condemned the genocide committed in Rwanda and its authors."

(snip - more at link)