Rwanda
Refugees returning to Rwanda

afrol.com, 20 October - During the month of September, a total of 2,196 people returned to Rwanda. This brings to nearly 17,000 the total of spontaneous returns to Rwanda this year. A majority of returnees come from the North and South Kivu, in Congo Kinshasa (DRC), as well as from Tanzania. Most fled Rwanda in 1994 and 1996. 

The returnees are being registered and provided with aid at transit centres inside Rwanda, the spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Delphine Marie today informed. Only in July, afrol.com reported about "a worrying increase in the number of Rwandan refugees arriving in the Tanzanian district of Ngara."

Rwandan authorities are preparing for the return of 25,000 Rwandans from camps in Tanzania after a tripartite commission including UNHCR was set up, said Rwandan radio.

Since the massive return of refugees to Rwanda in late 1996 and early 1997, UNHCR has continued to assist the voluntary repatriation of Rwandans still in exile outside of Rwanda. There are unconfirmed reports that 30,000 Rwandan refugees remain in North Kivu in the DRC and are likely to return in the near future. Additionally, the return of thousands of Rwandans remaining in Tanzania and other African countries can also be anticipated.

While the security situation in Rwanda has improved considerably over the past year, continued peace and stability will greatly depend on the successful reintegration of present and future returnees, and the overall geopolitical evolution in the Great Lakes Region, the UNHCR assesses the overall situation. One of the biggest obstacles to a successful integration is limited social infrastructure. The lack of individual housing is an important impediment which, if not alleviated, could cause future conflicts.

- The UNHCR, together with other humanitarian and developmental agencies, faces immense challenges to assist the Government of Rwanda in its efforts towards reconstruction and the reintegration and reconciliation of its people, while having limited resources at its disposition, the UN agency informs. 

The UNHCR has a special Field Office in Goma (Kivu Province of the DRC) with the aim to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of remnants of Rwandan Hutu refugees. In Tanzania, UNHCR currently provides protection and assistance to some 415,000 refugees from Burundi (285,000), DRC (118,000), Rwanda (7,600) and Somalia (4,200). Tanzania continues to witness refugee influxes, particularly from the DRC and is currently one of the world's biggest refugee host countries. 

The Great Lakes region of Africa has been one the areas of the world hardest hit by refugees and internally displaced after the 1993 Rwandan genocide sparkled off conflicts destabilizing the whole region.

Source: Based on UNHCR 

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