Rwanda Homecoming: 15 Year After the Genocide

During the Rwandan genocide, thousands of Hutus, fearing retaliation for mass killings of Tutsis, fled into eastern Congo and joined up with a Rwandan Hutu rebel group, whose leaders promised they would return to Rwanda someday to overthrow the Tutsi-dominated government. To keep their recruits in the bush, the rebel leaders -- some of whom are accused in the genocide -- spread harrowing stories about life back home, saying that returning Hutus would be jailed or killed and that there was no justice in Rwanda. Now, after fifteen years of living in Congo's bush, Rwandan Hutu Rebels are putting down their guns and being peacefully repatriated back into their home country. Before returning home, former rebels have to pass through a government-runs kind of boot camp aimed at transforming former rebels into model citizens. The mantra in Rwanda these days is unity. Former rebels are required to take classes on topics ranging from 'Avoiding Soil Erosion' to 'Overcoming Genocide Ideology.' Having not had any contact with family since 1994, many rebels didn't know if their relatives back in Rwanda were dead or alive.