Turning Rwandan terrorists into citizens: A conversation w/ Francis Musoni, Secretary General, Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission

The Long Form with Sanny Ntayombya

FDLR, FNL, and the other genocidal militia operating out of the forests and hills of Eastern DRC have one goal in mind, the violently overthrow of the Rwandan government and commencement of another genocide.

In 2008, Chris McGreal, a journalist from The Guardian, travelled to the jungles of Eastern DRC and reported on the FDLR.

In one extremely chilling exchange with a 13-year-old FDLR militiaman, who left Rwanda as a baby on his mother’s back, Chris revealed the hateful ideology that powered FDLR’s fight.

In the words of the teenager, “it was the Tutsis, the inyenzi, who were to blame for his predicament. He had to kill them. He hated them all. They stole his country, Rwanda - a Hutu country, as he called it - and he wanted them dead”.

With such hate, it almost seems impossible that someone like that can be brought back to Rwanda and turned into a useful, productive citizen. It seems a task too steep, but it is not.

Since 1997, the Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission has turning terrorists into citizens.

To explain how this is possible, I’m joined on the podcast by Francis Musoni, The Secretary General of Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission.

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