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Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda | |
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Ingabo za demokarasi zo kubohoza u Rwanda (Kinyarwanda) Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (French) | |
![]() Flag of the FDLR | |
Leaders | Ignace Murwanashyaka (POW) Callixte Mbarushimana Sylvestre Mudacumura † |
Dates of operation | 30 September 2000 | – present
Headquarters | Kibua and Kalonge |
Active regions | Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Ideology | Hutu Power |
Size | 6,000–7,000 (October 2007) 5,000 (October 2015)[1] 1,000 to 1,500 (2024) [2] |
Allies | ![]() |
Opponents | ![]() |
Battles and wars | Kivu conflict |
Hutu militants |
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Rwandan genocide (1994) |
Refugee crisis |
RDR (1995–1996) |
1st and 2nd Congo War |
The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (French: Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, FDLR) (Kinyarwanda: Ingabo za demokarasi zo kubohoza u Rwanda, IDKR) is an armed rebel group active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.[3] As an ethnic Hutu group opposed to the ethnic Tutsi influence, the FDLR is one of the last factions of Rwandan rebels active in the Congo. It was founded through an amalgamation of other groups of Rwandan refugees in September 2000, including the former Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALiR), under the leadership of Paul Rwarakabije.[4] It was active during the latter phases of the Second Congo War and the subsequent insurgencies in Kivu.
As of December 2009, Major General Sylvestre Mudacumura was the FDLR's overall military commander. He was the former deputy commander of the FAR Presidential Guard in Rwanda in 1994.[5] Mudacumura was killed by DRC security in 2019. The FDLR made a partial separation between its military and civilian wings in September 2003 when a formal armed branch, the Forces Combattantes Abacunguzi (FOCA), was created.[5]
According to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, the FDLR is believed to be responsible for about a dozen terrorist attacks committed in 2009.[6] These acts of terrorism have killed hundreds of civilians in Eastern Congo.
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