Burundian rebels lurking in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are turning in their weapons and heading home as peace slowly spreads across the central African region, officials said on Thursday. The vast DRC and tiny neighboring Burundi have both incorporated rebels into their respective governments in recent months, raising hopes that years of conflict may be winding down in the heart of the continent. Burundi last month awarded top ministerial posts to leaders from the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), a former Hutu rebel group that has agreed to join the Tutsi-dominated government and army. “It’s peaceful now in Congo and FDD rebels are coming down from the hills of their own free will – they don’t want to live in the bush any more,” said Colonel Cyrille Nsimba, an officer in the DRC’s new unified national army. “Over the last month, a few are coming day by day and handing in their weapons. They want to go home,” he said in Baraka, a small Congolese town on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, across from Burundi. He said up to 200 had surrendered over the past few weeks. Full Story
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