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 Appeal 2001 - Uganda
1 Dec 2000 ... ... Conditions in Sudan, the DRC and Rwanda are not conducive to voluntary repatriation. Increasing tensions in the region warn of possible new influxes of refugees into Uganda. UNHCR will nonetheless ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2007 - Central Africa and the Great Lakes Regional Overview
1 Dec 2006 ... Gabon Republic of the Congo Rwanda United Republic of Tanzania ... Repatriation was the main focus of UNHCR’s work in the region. ... return activities from Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi are planned. ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2005 - Democratic Republic of the Congo
1 Dec 2004 ... Burundian, Congolese, Rwandan, Sudanese, Ugandan and urban ... (MDRP) to complement repatriation and reintegration efforts ... Sudan (refugees) 25,060 9,660 Other refugees 23,388 8,265 Uganda ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2006 - Uganda
1 Dec 2005 ... ... Rwandan genocide perpetrators) as well as land disputes in Rwanda. ... UNHCR officers discussing voluntary repatriation with Sudanese refugees. UNHCR / T. Muftic Uganda Strategy Protection and ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2010-2011 - Uganda
1 Dec 2009 ... Uganda. Activities include strengthening the capacities of local communities and authorities through a three-year Post Repatriation ... from Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and other ...... -
Learning outside the classroom: non-formal refugee education in Uganda. Ayla Bonfiglio
9 Nov 2010 ... the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi have fled to Uganda for the last 15 years from some of ... UNHCR appears to favour home country curricula because repatriation stands as the ...... -
Yearbook of the United Nations 1994: Part 3 Chapter 15 - Refugees and Displaced Persons
1994 ... countries receiving refu- gees from Rwanda (resolution 49/24). During the year, UNHCR spent $173 million on voluntary repatriation. ... of refugees into Burundi, Uganda, the United Republic of ...... -
Yearbook of the United Nations 1996: Part 3 Chapter 12 - Refugees and Displaced Persons
1996 ... focus on voluntary repatriation. The conflict in eastern Zaire and the sudden and large-scale return of Rwandans from Zaire and the ... Lakes region of Africa, as well as in Kenya, Uganda and Nepal. ...... -
Explanatory note
14 Oct 2015 ... UGANDA ERITREA ETHIOPIA SOMALIA BURUNDI SOUTH SUDAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO SAUDI ARABIA DJIBOUTI SUDAN KENYA RWANDA ... for appropriate solutions, including voluntary repatriation. ......