(Bloomberg) -- The Democratic Republic of Congo extradited two top officials from a Rwandan rebel group to face charges at home, a blow for the militants who've carried out sporadic attacks on Rwandan soil.
Ignace Nkaka, a spokesman for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, and Theophile Abega, an intelligence chief, have been returned to Congo's neighbor after they were captured in December, according to officials from both governments.
Congo, almost the size of western Europe, has struggled for two decades to defeat dozens of local and foreign militias in its east, which is home to deposits of tin, gold and coltan. Some of the FDLR's leaders are linked to the perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which about 800,000 people were killed.
“The next step will be our prosecution looking into their cases so that they have their day in court,” said Richard Sezibera, Rwanda's foreign minister. Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende said the extraditions were in line with an agreement between the two countries.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ignatius Ssuuna in Goma at issuuna@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Jacqueline Mackenzie
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