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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

RWANDA-UGANDA: More refugees arrive in Kigali

KIGALI, 22 January 2004 (IRIN) - Another 258 Rwandan refugees who had been living in Uganda for nearly 10 years returned home on Wednesday, an official in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, told IRIN.

A programme administrator of the Joint Commission for the Repatriation and Reintegration of Rwandan Refugees, Eugene Musiime, said the latest arrivals brought to 500 the number of refugees who have returned from Uganda since the repatriation process began on Monday.

The repatriation follows an agreement signed by the governments of the two countries and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in October 2003 for the voluntary return of at least 25,000 Rwandan refugees living in Uganda.

Musiime said those arriving in Kigali were being taken to Kichumbi Transit Camp in Byumba Province, pending transportation to their home communes. At the camp, the returnees get a repatriation package, provided with UNHCR assistance, comprising non-food items and cereals expected to last three months once they return to their homes, Musiime added.

He said a majority of the 242 refugees who returned on Monday had already left the camp for their communes of origin. "We want to create space at the transit camp for other returnees who will be coming soon," he said.

He added that more convoys were expected on Friday, transporting another 450 refugees from the Ugandan camps of Kyaka, Nakivale and Rukinga. Some 1,650 refugees had registered for voluntary repatriation by 12 January.

The majority of the Rwandan refugees living in camps in Uganda fled either during or shortly after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which resulted in the killing of at least 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

Rwanda has stepped up the repatriation effort by signing agreements with several countries, including the Republic of Congo, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs

[ENDS]

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