Conosciuti anche come:
Interahamwe
Peuple en armes pour la liberation du Rwanda (PALIR)
Armée pour la libération du Rwanda (ALIR)
ex-FAR (Forces armees rwandaises)

The FAR was the army of the Rwandan Hutu regime that carried out the genocide of 500,000 or more Tutsis and regime opponents in 1994. The Interahamwe was the civilian militia force that carried out much of the killing. The groups merged and recruited additional fighters after they were forced from Rwanda into the Democratic Republic of Congo (then-Zaire) in 1994. They are now often known as the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR), which is the armed branch of the PALIR or Party for the Liberation of Rwanda.

Activities

The group seeks to topple Rwanda's Tutsi-dominated government, reinstitute Hutu- control, and, possibly, complete the genocide. In 1996, a message allegedly from the ALIR threatened to kill the US Ambassador to Rwanda and other US citizens. In 1999, ALIR guerrillas critical of alleged US-UK support for the Rwandan regime kidnapped and killed eight foreign tourists including two US citizens in a game park on the Congo-Uganda border. In the current Congolese war, the ALIR is allied with Kinshasa against the Rwandan invaders.

Strength

Several thousand ALIR regular forces operate alongside the Congolese army on the front lines of the Congo civil war, while a like number of ALIR guerrillas operate behind Rwanda lines in eastern Congo closer to the Rwandan border and sometimes within Rwanda.

Location/Area of Operation

Mostly Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, but some operations in Burundi.

External Support

The Democratic Republic of the Congo provides ALIR forces in Congo with training, arms, and supplies