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 2009 - Rwanda
1 Jun 2010 ... assisted. l Approximately 20,600 Rwandan refugees who repatriated from the DRC and Uganda were assisted to travel to their ... helped 2,030 of these people to repatriate. l Some 300 refugees were ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2004 - East and Horn of Africa Regional Overview
1 Dec 2003 ... In July 2003, a tripartite agreement was signed by UNHCR and the Governments of Uganda and Rwanda to promote the voluntary repatriation of Rwandan refugees from Uganda to Rwanda. The plan foresees ...... -
Statement by Mrs. Sadako Ogata, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to the Regional Conference on Assistance to Refugees, Returnees and Displaced Persons in the Great Lakes Region, Burundi, 15 February 1995
15 Feb 1995 ... it. Having just returned from Zaire, Rwanda and Uganda, and having visited the United Republic of ... Before discussing voluntary repatriation, let me first turn to the situation of refugees and ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2010-2011 - Central Africa and the Great Lakes subregional overview
1 Dec 2009 ... Joint military actions by armies from the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda against rebel groups have raised hopes ... Any unorganized or forced return within the framework of the repatriation of Congolese ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2009 - Democratic Republic of the Congo
1 Jun 2010 ... Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) l UNHCR organized the repatriation of some 9,020 Rwandan and Burundian ... Others of concern Various 10 - 36 36 Returnees (refugees)* Uganda 25,600 - - - Zambia ...... -
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25 Jul 1995 ... refugees in Zaire, mainly from Rwanda (1,252,837), Burundi (180,098), Angola (160,948), Sudan (111,872) and Uganda (18,560). ... 1994 paved the way for the repatriation of 5,370 Ugandan refugees ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2003 - Kenya
1 Dec 2002 ... and refugees. ■ Facilitate and promote repatriation when condi- tions are favourable. ■ ... Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2003 - Rwanda
1 Jun 2004 ... • UNHCR assisted 23,172 Rwandans to return in 2003. • Consultants monitored repatriation and the pro- cess of ... Brinkmanship with Uganda did not escalate into conflict and the Tripar- ...... -
UNHCR Activities Financed by Voluntary Funds: Report for 1993-1994 and Proposed Programmes and Budget for 1995
16 Aug 1994 ... with the exception of some 85,000 Rwandese in south-western Uganda who arrived during the early 1960s and ... Programme objectives and priorities Sudanese refugees 9. As repatriation of Sudanese ......