Callixte Kayibanda taken several roles in the FDLR establishment including, training commandant, army chief of Staff, and political commissar for Kivu Sector –he says more defections are likely in the coming months.
Clad in a blue ‘ Adidas’jacket, a white t shirt with red strips and blue jeans, the former training officer under the Congo based Genocide fugitives- FDLR is happy to be home again.
For the past 26 years, Callixte Kayibanda, has been living in the jungles of Eastern Congo taunted by hard living conditions which left them with nothing but wishes of going back home- his home Rwanda he cherishes.
But it was not until May 27, 2016 that his wish came to pass as he made his decision to come back home from Bweru of Mweso in Masisi, Eastern DRC.
“I knew we could not win Rwandan forces (RDF) but was held up in the bushes for all this time because I could not get information about the situation in Rwanda,” the jolly looking Kayibanda said.
“Due to a lot of responsibilities that I charged with by my commanders I didn’t have time to get information, all they can tell us is Rwanda is still insecure the way we left it” he noted.
Kayibanda narrates that he came to know about the prevailing peace in Rwanda from one Esperence,Uwineza, the wife to Major Ntagisanimana who came back to Rwanda.
Uwineza repatriated back to Rwanda in December, 2015 and later went back to bring her husband major Ntagisanimana which also prompted others like Kayibanda to ponder over the decision to come back.
“Uwineza told me how her husband is doing well in Rwanda and this made me wish to also go back home, now I have come with my family,” he narrates.
Accordingly, Kayibanda has taken several roles in the FDLR establishment including, training commandant, army chief of Staff, political commissar for Kivu Sector under the command of Brig Gen Omega.
Since last year several high ranking officers in the FDLR returned home after the force started cracking down with several disagreements, which according to military analysts would lead to its downfall.
Kayibanda who joined army in 1975 under the late Habyarimana government and was at Gabiro barracks at the time of the Rwanda Patriotic Front-RPF attacked Rwanda on October 1, 1990 at the rank of Seargent Major.
His ordeal like others who managed to come back tells of the suffering in the bushes and the denial by FDLR commanders that they cannot win the war and thus hindering others who wish to come back.
“Many wish to come back, but some commanders are suspicious (having had a role in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi) and stop everyone else,” he added.
But what is even more peculiar with these fugitives is the cult beliefs that has now enmeshed the force ideology, as Kayibanda explains, “most of them (commanders) believe in cult prophesies that God will come and take them back to Rwanda.”
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