“I married my spouse whereas I used to be combating within the bush. As soon as we had a child, I believed that we might not be protected, working from one place to a different with a household, so I made a decision to return to my house nation, Rwanda.”
26-year-old Jean-Nepo Mukeshimana is talking on the Munigi Transit Camp, close to northern Goma, the place he’s making ready to go away for Rwanda, after some 10 years combating within the ranks of Raiya Mutomboki, an armed group primarily based in Kibabi, a village within the DRC province of North Kivu.
Born to Rwandan dad and mom who fled the 1994 genocide, Mr. Mukeshimana was born in DRC. When he was 16, his dad and mom returned to Rwanda as a result of the battle was over, however Mr. Mukeshimana stayed, and was later recruited by Raiya Mutomboki.
“For 10 years I fought within the bush, life was arduous, and we couldn’t do something to earn earnings. It was sprinting from one place to a different each single day”, he says.
His spouse, 20-year-old Mapenzi Uwineza, who says that Mr. Mukeshimana merely ordered her to observe him into the bush after their marriage, agrees that life was robust. “After we wanted meals, the combatants needed to go looting, what sort of life is that? We didn’t have sanitary towels, so I needed to improvise with outdated items of fabric. And whereas our husbands have been away, we might be crushed by the rebels.”
Preparations for civilian life
Together with 4 different male ex-combatants, and their dependents – two ladies and 5 kids – Mr. Mukeshimana spent two weeks within the camp, as a part of MONUSCO’s Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programme in DRC, which has been working since 2013.
The goal of the initiative is to assist in the repatriation of all overseas combatants and their dependents within the nation, gather and eradicate weapons and ammunition, and make sure that the ex-combatants perceive the significance of peace.
The Rwandans within the camp are anticipated to inform others who’re nonetheless combating within the bush that it’s protected to give up and return house.
John Bashali works for the MONUSCO DDR programme. He says {that a} lack of identification papers, required by authorities of their nation of origin, deters many combatants from considering of returning house.
To make the method simpler for them, MONUSCO helps ex-fighters with the paperwork. “There’s a cellphone quantity that they’ll attain us on, with the price of the decision paid by MONUSCO”, he says. “After figuring out them, they’re transferred to Munigi Transit Camp prepared for repatriation”.
Studying to dwell peacefully
Established in 2014, the camp gives fundamental requirements like clothes, meals, sanitary kits for girls, and shelter. Ex-combatants have entry to information, and may participate in sporting actions.
The centre additionally gives them with life abilities and a stipend to help them after reaching house. As soon as they get to Rwanda, the boys spend two to 3 months on the Mutobo Demobilization Camp, the place they be taught vocational abilities, in order that they’ll make ends meet as soon as they return to their villages.
A brand new chapter
As they assist one another to pack their belongings, Mr. Mukeshimana and his fellow ex-fighters are clearly excited to be leaving for Rwanda.
“I’ve by no means had such a clear outfit as a result of within the bush, I had lice throughout my physique”, says a jovial Mr. Mukeshimana, who’s sporting a brand new set of garments supplied by the mission.
Previous to departing, a meal of rice and beans is served. Then, the expectant group boards a UN minibus, and their journey from Munigi to the border between DRC and Rwanda begins.
After a half-hour drive, it’s time to say goodbye to DRC, and begin a brand new, extra hopeful chapter of their lives.