Congolese ex-rebels resist repatriation

The UN refugee agency said escaped M23 detainees, including some subject to war crimes probes, tried to find alternative refuge in Uganda on Tuesday, saying they feared retribution on return to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Ugandan military spokesman Ronald Kakurunga said dozens fled into the bush as 120 ex-rebels were being taken by truck to Entebbe airport on Tuesday.

They had belonged to a group of 1,300 March 23 Movement followers kept at a camp at Bihanga in southwest Uganda since Congolese and UN soldiers put an end to 20 months of insurgency in eastern DRC in 2012 and 2013.

At the time, hundreds of people were killed and 800,000 displaced. A regional accord stipulates that fighters suspected of war crimes could still be put on trial.

M23 spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa said Uganda's repatriation move on Tuesday was in "violation of international law."

He said M23 ex-rebels had first wanted firm protection guarantees from the DRC government, based in Kinshasa.

Killings in Beni region

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch urged the International Criminal Court to probe more recent killings of scores of villagers in DRC's northeastern Beni region.

The UN mission MONUSCO and the army of DRC said that, since Saturday, they had begun a joint operation against a mainly Muslim rebel movement from neighboring Uganda, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

MONUSCO has a mandate to protect civilians and neutralize armed groups.

ipj/rc (AFP, dpa, AP)