Rwanda returns from Uganda cross 1,000
Since the start of voluntary repatriation in January, some 1,100 Rwandan refugees have gone home from Uganda as the government in Kigali steps up efforts to welcome its refugees back.
MBARARA, Uganda, March 29 (UNHCR) - More than 1,100 Rwandan refugees have gone home from Uganda this year in an ongoing repatriation movement organised by the UN refugee agency that started in January.
On Monday morning, 228 Rwanda refugees - about half of them children - left Nakivale camp in Uganda's south-western Mbarara district. They travelled south in five UNHCR trucks and crossed the Rwandan border, where they were welcomed by fellow Rwandans. The returnees were visibly happy to be back. Many had not seen their home country in at least 10 years, while their children had been born in the settlements and were setting foot in Rwanda for the first time.
Two more convoys of a similar size from Uganda's Oruchinga and Kyaka II camps are scheduled to follow this week. Of the 3,000 Rwandan refugees who have registered for the UNHCR return programme this year, the agency expects that more than half will have returned to their country by the end of this week.
An estimated 2 million people fled Rwanda in the wake of the 1994 genocide. UNHCR believes that as at mid-2003, there were still some 60,000 Rwandan refugees in the region. Uganda hosts some 18,000 of them, whom the government hopes to assist home under a voluntary repatriation agreement with the Rwandan government and UNHCR.
The Rwandan authorities have established a transit camp at Byumba, 25 km from the border with Uganda, that can register more than 500 people per day. This modern facility was built to speedily process the returnees back to national status within one day, after which each family will receive a repatriation package containing a basic kitchen set, plastic sheeting, blankets, jerry cans and soap.
The repatriation exercise will continue as long as refugees wish to return home from Uganda's Kyaka II, Nakivale and Oruchinga refugee settlements. A UNHCR-sponsored information campaign is keeping them abreast of safety conditions in Rwanda and urging them to register for an orderly and swift return home.
Eager to welcome back its refugees, the newly-elected government in Rwanda has signed similar agreements with Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The UN refugee agency expects to help two-thirds of the remaining 60,000 Rwandan refugees in the region to return home this year.
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UNHCR Global Report 2007 - Uganda
1 Jun 2008 ... Uganda Operational highlights • Uganda hosted nearly 230,000 ... Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. ... beginning of the voluntary repatriation programme in May 2006. • ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2010 - Central Africa and the Great Lakes subregional overview
20 Jun 2011 ... Congo (DRC) and UNHCR signed tripartite agreements with Rwanda, the Republic of the Congo and Uganda to prepare for the voluntary repatriation of more than 200,000 Congolese refugees living in ...... -
Ministerial meeting reviews timeline for solving Rwandan refugee situation
19 Apr 2013 ... Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe reviewed progress in promoting the voluntary repatriation and reintegration of Rwandan refugees. ...... -
Burundi 2019-2020 Regional Refugee Response Plan (December 2018)
Dec 2018 ... of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, 349,000 of whom are assisted through ... assisted to repatriate as of November 2018. The situation in Burundi remains complex. ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2005 - Uganda
1 Dec 2004 ... Uganda Main objectives • To provide international pro- tection ... for Sudanese, Congolese and Rwandan refu- gees, and work towards ... the time of writing, the repatriation of Rwandan refugees had ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2006 - Rwanda
1 Dec 2005 ... refugees. • Continue the repatriation of an estimated 50,000 Rwandan refugees. • Provide reintegration ... and sought asylum in Burundi and Uganda in April 2005. On a regional level, ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2005 - Kenya
1 Jun 2006 ... were repatriated to Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In order to support repatriation to South Sudan, a teacher- training college was ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2005 - Rwanda
1 Jun 2006 ... Over 120, mainly Burundian, refugees were resettled in third countries. • UNHCR’s efforts to promote repatriation resulted in the return of 9,700 Rwandans in 2005, mostly from DRC and Uganda. ...... -
Update on regional developments in Africa
31 May 1996 ... the Great Lakes region for Rwandan and Burundian Refugees 2. The ... sub-region is voluntary repatriation - in particular to ... 9. Elsewhere in the region, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia ......