Twenty years after the Rwandan genocide, some of those responsible are still wreaking havoc in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, where they are terrorising the local population and profiting from the area's rich natural resources. The BBC's Grainne Harrington reports on the UN's attempts to persuade them to lay down their weapons and return home.
Vincent Miranzi" is on the legal affairs commission of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) but he won't tell the BBC his real name.He arrived in what is now Democratic Republic of Congo after the Rwandan genocide, though he denies taking part in the slaughter of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, which has led to two decades of unrest across the region.
The FDLR has been accused of recruiting child soldiers, rape and systematic looting. …show more content…
That exists in other countries too, in all societies. But we have ways of dealing with that. Each time a case is identified, then they have to submit to strict regulations."
Mr Miranzi has come to meet me in the village of Luofu, a small village nestled in the lush green hills of North Kivu, DR Congo's eastern province, bordering Rwanda, which has borne the brunt of years of conflict.
Luofu is now just outside FDLR territory, but for most of the past decade, it was dominated by the Rwandan rebels.
They extorted money from locals, pillaged farmers' harvests and set up road blocks, demanding money or goods from anyone travelling through. People here accuse the Congolese army of collaborating with them, leaving locals to fend for