allAfrica.com: East Africa: Ugandan Officials Under Probe in Rwandan Refugees' ScamIgnatius Ssuuna And Sam Nkurunziza
19 May 2009
Kigali — Several Ugandan local leaders are being investigated for allegedly soliciting bribes from Rwandan refugees not willing to be repatriated, The NewTimes has learnt.
The Ugandan government launched the investigation days after local leaders in some districts were accused by the returning refugees of soliciting bribes in exchange for documents identifying them as Ugandans.
A Resident District Commissioner (RDC) who requested not to be named told this newspaper yesterday that leaders under probe are those in districts and counties.
"These are just opportunists. They look at this repatriation exercise as a fertile ground to get free money from miserable people," the RDC said.
Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere, Uganda's Minister for Disaster Preparedness also confirmed the development in a telephone interview yesterday.
"These leaders are just greedy. We shall arrest all of them," Kabwegyere said, adding that leaders should be honest, credible and straightforward.
The Rwandan refugees in Nakivale Settlement Camp claimed they bribed local authorities in Isingiro District in Western Uganda to avoid the ongoing repatriation.
"Instead of advising them (refugees) to go back home, corrupt-minded leaders are taking advantage of the situation," Kabwegyere said.
He threatened that tough administrative measures will be taken against local officials found responsible for giving Rwandan refugees forged documents. Those given documents are said to be escaping the camps and settling in other areas of the country.
"The leaders are scaring them about their country and they end up running away," Kabwegyere said. He appealed to the refugees to honour the repatriation exercise.
Over 20,000 Rwandan refugees have been residing in Nakivale Camp after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Their repatriation was agreed upon in a tripartite meeting that brought together both governments of Uganda and Rwanda with the UNHCR and the consensus was to have all the refugees repatriated by July this year.
Refugees claim that the local leaders demand about Ushs200,000 to obtain an LC letter confirming they are Ugandans.
The exercise has seen hundreds of refugees return home.
allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Refugees Return to Country
Matthew Alagiah
18 May 2009
opinion
Kigali — We arrived at Gatuna border post at around 5.30pm on the evening of May 14, just as dusk fell on the surrounding hills. Already, the 201 returnees had crossed the border into Rwanda from the camps in southern Uganda, and were now waiting to be taken to the capital.
The scene into which we stepped was somewhat chaotic. A mountain of baggage lay to one side - mattresses, straw sacks and suitcases all piled haphazardly on the ground - and people were rushing everywhere, gathering their things up and loading them into the waiting truck.
According to government officials at the site, among the assembled crowd were 94 children and 60 women.
They are among the first Rwandan refugees in Uganda to return to their home country as part of an immense repatriation operation headed by UNHCR. The operation, which began on May 12, will see all the estimated 20,000 refugees in Ugandan camps return to Rwanda by the end of July this year.
When the genocide began in April 1994, thousands fled the violence, crossing the border into neighbouring countries such as DR Congo and Uganda. Many of the refugees have not stepped foot on Rwandan soil since.
The consensus among those gathered in the car park at Gatuna was that they were glad to be returning to Rwanda.
One man, who preferred not to be named, described this as a "happy" moment for him and his family and said that they were looking forward to going back to their village in the Eastern Province. Patricia Kamaraba, too, said she was glad to be back - "We were well looked after in the camps. But the land wasn't ours. We were tired of being called 'refugees'".
Kamaraba told us that she still had a son and two daughters in Uganda awaiting repatriation, but that they were registered and would hopefully be following soon. As she spoke, a small child clung to the folds of her dress.
Like many of the children here, she was born in the camp and has never known the country of her parents. Now, for the first time, she will see her homeland.
Her apprehensive behaviour showed the uncertainty which was felt by every one of the group as they waited for deliverance in this strange state of limbo on the border - between two countries, between the camps and their homes, between refugee and returnee.
However, there have been some issues with the repatriation process, some of the refugees showing reluctance to return.
The man I spoke to explained that there had been rumours going round the camps that those who returned would be putting their lives at risk. Reports had found their way back to the refugees of 'solidarity camps' in Rwanda, where returnees were taken and killed.
Others had their own reasons to avoid return.
Kamaraba told us how she had returned to Rwanda once before in 2006 and had found herself arrested without reason, an experience which had frightened her and convinced her to stay in Uganda. She had also heard rumours that they would be "taken to European countries" if they stayed.
But the government has taken active steps to inform people of the truth and dispel their fears. The Minister of Local Government, Protais Musoni stated, "they just lack enough information about their country we are preparing to send a team to give them the real picture of what Rwanda is."
As the sun fell below the hills to the west, the returnees began piling into the buses which would be taking them to the Red Cross headquarters in Kigali. There, they would spend their first night in Rwanda in fifteen years.
The previous morning, they had been issued with three month's worth of food and provisions - maize, beans and cooking oil - before meeting their local government officials and being taken to their respective districts.
Innocent Ngango Rubuga, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Refugees, stated that "everything went smoothly. The returnees started leaving for their districts early in the morning".
The Mayor of Gatsibo, Vianney Murego, was at the scene to welcome the 74 people who would be returning to the various sectors across his district. He told The New Times "the returnees are in a good condition and are ready to be taken back to their homes".
The scenes of the last few days are just one small part of a much wider operation to repatriate the estimated 20 000 Rwandan refugees still living in south Uganda. The process marks an important step towards rebuilding society in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide.
The fact that these refugees would prefer to come back to Rwanda instead of staying within the guaranteed security of the camps is a testament to the stride the country has come in the last fifteen years.
The next big challenge will be ensuring that these returnees, many of whom have spent most of their lives in the camps, are reintegrated into society and given all the support they need to establish a new life in Rwanda. As Anne-Marie Ntamitondero aptly put it, "we can't have a future in a foreign country"; now back in her own land, she can begin to build a future for her and her family.
allAfrica.com: Uganda: Refugees Leave Camps Fearing Repatriation
14 May 2009
Kampala — Some 20 Rwandan refugees a day are fleeing camps in neighbouring Uganda for localities further inland, fearing imminent repatriation, officials said.
"They [the refugees] are trying to mingle with local communities but we have been returning them to the camp," Poly Namayi, southwestern Uganda police spokesperson, told IRIN.
Namayi said some refugees had been arrested in Isingiro district. Others were crossing into neighbouring Lyantonde, Mubende and Kiboga districts, and as far as Karagwe in northern Tanzania.
At least 20 refugees have been leaving the Nakivale refugee settlement daily in the last week, according to police records. Nakivale is home to about 11,000 Rwandan refugees, most of whom fled to Uganda after the 1994 genocide.
A senior police officer said some refugees were selling their belongings as they prepared to leave the camps before the 31 July repatriation deadline set by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Ugandan government.
According to UNHCR communications officer, Carolyne Akello, the agency is investigating the cases of the fleeing refugees.
"The UNHCR continues to assist and encourage Rwandan refugees in Uganda to seize this opportunity and return to their country; however, the exercise is voluntary. We shall devise means of dealing with those who are not willing to be repatriated after July 31, when the exercise closes," Akello said, adding that UNHCR was still providing aid to the refugees in the camps.
We shall devise means of dealing with those who are not willing to be repatriated after July 31, when the exercise closes
"The government of Uganda and UNHCR will undertake to find a durable solution in case of [a] residual caseload."
Since April, the Rwandan and Ugandan governments, with UNHCR, have been conducting sensitisation campaigns to encourage returns.
The first batch of 80 returnees is expected to leave Uganda on 19 May, said Innocent Ngango, the head of refugee repatriation in the Rwanda's local government ministry.
Gacaca fears
However, Ngango noted that some elements in the refugee camps were discouraging their counterparts from returning to Rwanda for fear of being prosecuted for genocide-related crimes.
A lack of understanding of the workings of the Rwandan traditional court system, the Gacaca, is contributing to the refugees' reluctance to return home, Denis Bikesha, the head of mobilisation in the courts, told IRIN earlier.
At present, Uganda is hosting about 20,000 Rwandan refugees half of whom have in the past been opposed to repatriation, according to camp officials.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Govt Refutes Refugee Persecution Claims
Robert Mugabe
13 May 2009
Kigali — Government has allayed fears by some refugees returning from Uganda that they stand to be persecuted.
The refugees who started returning home Tuesday, said the rumours being spread in the Uganda refugee camps include that the Rwandan government arrests and detains all the repatriated.
"Those claims are baseless they just lack enough information about their country. I have been there (in the camps) myself but we are preparing to send a team to give them the real picture of what Rwanda is and mobilize them," Protais Musoni, the Minister of Local Government told The New Times.
Tuesday saw the return of 83 refugees, the first batch of an estimated 20,000 refugees based in South Western Ugandan camps of Nakivale and Nshungerezi.
The repatriation was influenced by the recent tripartite meeting between the governments of Uganda and Rwanda and the UNHCR.
Samuel Ndagijimana, one of the returnees told The New Times in an interview that people are reluctant to repatriate because of speculation that those who repatriate would hardly survive.
"There are dangerous rumors in the camps we had always been told by our colleagues that when we come, the government will take us to solidarity camps from where most of us will be killed," Ndagijimana said.
Musoni, clarified that the solidarity camps are not for civilians who repatriate but for armed militias from DRC who have to go through the demobilization and reintegration process.
30-year old Saidi Bigirimpfura accused some local authorities in Uganda of receiving bribes, then assisting some refugees to flee the camps to avoid repatriation.
The 83 who are now temporary based at the Rwanda Red Cross headquarters and UNHCR and GTZ (a German NGO) , with officials who were at the site saying that food and other logistical needs are enough even if all the refugees were to repatriate.
The Rwanda and Ugandan governments agreed to repatriate all refugees living in Uganda by July 30, 2009 and those who will remain there would be considered illegal migrants.
Meanwhile, today, at least 100 are expected cross via the Gatuna boarder post.
allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Refugees Safe to Come Back Home
13 May 2009
editorial
Kigali — Today we report of 80 refugees who have returned from Uganda. This is a welcome move, which should be followed by the remaining thousands, who are based at the two camps of Nakivale and Nshungerezi.
The tripartite agreement between the governments of Rwanda, Uganda and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to repatriate the refugees who fled Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, was long overdue.
Enough resources from the partners will ensure a smooth repatriation process, in terms of transporting people, and getting them home to safety.
We have witnessed with the demobilized former FDLR rebels; who have returned home, are now safe, but have also started to live decent lives in their communities.
Those churning out propaganda to the Uganda based refugees have gone on a malicious campaign claiming that should these men and women return they will face retribution.
The question to ask is for what? Rwanda is in the 15th Commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi period, in which examples of unity and reconciliation are in abundance.
Survivor, stands by perpetrator both telling their story. Those stuck in history are missing great opportunities of being part of the country's nation building efforts.
Sadly, by remaining outside of the current thinking and mood in the country, ironically, they also pose a major threat to the above ideals.
This is why the Rwandan government and the rest of the East African Community should adopt a zero tolerance for these people.
The way they are forcing citizens to flee from one regional country to another is just not on, and must be stopped. The few responsible are known, and these are just a bunch of criminals who otherwise were involved in the Genocide and cannot face the reality of justice.
So instead of running on their own, they would rather carry on a smear campaign, blackmailing innocent citizens to remain out of the country.
The sensitization drive by all concerned parties should really focus on the benefits of being home than being stuck in life of the camps. Those 80 who have returned should also spread word to those still in fear outside, that there is no place like home.
allAfrica.com: East Africa: Rwandan Refugees in Uganda Flee Camps
Robert Mugabe
12 May 2009
Nakivale — Some Rwandan refugees living in Nakivale and Nshungerezi camps in Uganda, are fleeing the camps to escape being repatriated back home, The New Times has learnt.
The refugees have been living in Uganda since the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.
The development unfolds after a recent tripartite announcement by the governments of Uganda, Rwanda and the UNHCR, the UN body that settled them in Nakivale Refugee Settlement Camp, jointly announced that there was no reason they should continue staying in Uganda when there is stability in Rwanda.
But upon hearing the repatriation news, the refugees reportedly started vanishing from the camps escaping to other districts.
When contacted yesterday, Local Government Minister, Protais Musoni, confirmed the development.
"We have heard these claims that refugees are vanishing from the camps to unknown places. We hear some are running towards Kasese District in Western Uganda," Musoni said. He added that some refugees were claiming to be Congolese.
"But we are also getting calls from those who want to come back home voluntarily," added Minister Musoni.
Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere, Ugandan Minister for Relief and Disaster Preparedness told The New Times in a telephone interview yesterday, that authorities in Kampala had arrested some refugees who were trying escape.
"We are investigating the matter. We are sensitizing and telling them why it's important for them to return home. Rwanda is a stable country," Kabwegyere explained.
According to Kabwegyere, some refugees were escaping to neighbouring Tanzania. He also said some refugees were frustrating the repatriation exercise by discouraging their colleagues not to return home.
"Many are willing to go back home," Kabwegyere revealed.
The Rwanda and Ugandan governments agreed to repatriate all refugees living in Uganda by July 30, 2009.
Minister Musoni said Kigali was expecting about 30 refugees at Gatuna border yesterday.
The New Times could not by press time independently verify claims that some Ugandan local officials were helping refugees escape.
Posts
