Former members of the now defunct M23 rebel group have turned down efforts to repatriate them home, citing fears for their lives.

A delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo, led by the Deputy Minister of Defence René Nsibu Matabuka, arrived in Rwanda last week with names of 150 former rebels who have been given amnesty, and announced plans to repatriate them.

However, only 13 agreed to return home. Of these, only one is at the rank of lieutenant colonel. None of the senior high ranking former M23 officials, including former political leader Jean Marie Runiga and military commanders Col Baudouin Ngaruye, Eric Badege and Innocent Zimurinda, will be going home. Kinshasa wants these four to be extradited to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Mr Mutabuka warned that Kinshasa would not hold “fresh negotiations” with M23, saying it did not recognise the group’s existence.

“There cannot be any fresh negotiations with M23 because it no longer exists. What exists today is called ex-M23 and there are terms in place that were left behind by the agreement,” Mr Mutabuka said, ignoring fresh calls from the ex-rebels to ensure that their security is guaranteed. Instead, he asked them to return and form a political party if they so wish.

“M23 is still alive. We know where each of our fighters is,” Jean Marie Runiga replied, and threatened that the rebels could regroup if the government disregarded the terms of the peace deal.

Runiga expressed fears that the rebels who are repatriated are quietly killed or detained, but the DRC Minister was quick to dismiss the claims as false.

Lt-Col Bantu Kakira alias Juif, the highest ranking former rebel who agreed to return home said that they have been informed there would be a hostile reception back home.

“We are ready to face what comes to us. If they kill me, they will be answerable to God,” Kakira told journalists before boarding a UN bus.

According to Runiga and other senior ex-combatants, the amnesty and repatriation process is selective, contrary to the Nairobi agreement that political positions would be given to to political heads of M23 while military commanders and fighters would be reintegrated back in the army.

“We cannot return home if some people are given amnesty and others are not, even if it’s just one person,” said Runiga.

He said that it was not unusual for Kinshasa to violate agreements because they had discarded the one with Laurent Nkunda-led CNDP, leading to the formation of M23.

Mr Mutabuka however assured the ex-combatants that the government will play its part in repatriating and reintegrating them back into society.

He said $3 million has been set aside to reintegrate those who want to go into civilian life.

On Tuesday, the ex-combatants had pledged not to take up arms against the government. However, as talks fell apart, the ex-rebel leaders said that there was a possibility of regrouping if their grievances were not heard. There continues to be a sense of mistrust between the rebels and Kinshasa.

Rwanda is playing an “outside” role in repatriating the rebels but Kigali has previously said it would not repatriate wanted persons to countries with the death penalty in their penal code.

Previously President Paul Kagame had expressed worry that the ex-combatants would feel insecure on returning home because in the past they were reintegrated back in the army only to be deployed far from eastern DRC, where they were followed and killed.

READ: Rwanda rejects request to repatriate M23 rebels

Parfait Gahamanyi, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who represented the government during the talks, said that Rwanda was ready to allow those willing to return home to go, but it cannot force out those who are still seeking asylum.