FNL spokesperson Pasteur Habimana accepted responsibility for attacks on the camps. He made the broad claim that these operations were “legitimate self-defense,” essential to assuring exclusive use of the name Palipehutu-FNL for his group, and essential for protecting their leader Rwasa. According to Habimana, the government was responsible for increasing the number of dissidents and locating dissident camps near FNL posts, measures intended to weaken his movement.[149]