Rwanda: more than 3,000 new Congolese refugees received
UNHCR Rwanda announces that it keeps receiving Congolese fleeing their country. Over 3000 have already arrived in a few weeks and a new transit site has been set up in Nkamira not far from the border with Congo, to receive Congolese refugees, mostly Rwandophones. INFO SOS Médias Burundi
The UN refugee agency says Congolese fleeing fighting in eastern DRC continue to flow into Rwanda.
“Nearly 3,000 new arrivals from the DRC have fled to Rwanda in recent weeks. Together with the government of Rwanda and partners, we are putting in place the necessary kit to take care of them,” UNHCR-Rwanda wrote on its Twitter account.
And besides, adds the UNHCR, a new site has been set up for the mainly Rwandophone Congolese refugees, from the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.
“A new transit site in Nkamira, in the Rubavu district, bordering the DRC is set up to provide shelter and assistance to these asylum seekers”, he adds.
As the UNHCR points out, this center was created in anticipation of a possible influx of refugees in the coming weeks, in a context of fear of a resumption of fighting in eastern Congo between the regular army and the rebels of the M23.
Some arriving refugees are accommodated at the Kijote transit center in Nyabihu and others have been relocated to Mahama camp in eastern Rwanda where they live with Burundians.
Recently, Congolese refugees settled in Rwanda were afraid that they could be expelled following the words of Rwandan President Paul Kagame who responded to his Congolese counterpart Félix Tshisekedi. An update was quickly made by the Rwandan presidency to try to calm things down.
‘The words of the President of the Republic have been misinterpreted. We will continue to welcome people fleeing insecurity, persecution and violence. Only, we ask the international community to take responsibility for finding a lasting solution for this forgotten group of refugees from the DRC,” reframed the deputy spokesman for the Rwandan government, Alain Mukuralinda.
He stressed that the international community and the Congolese government must stop shirk their responsibility and start addressing the real causes of the refugee crisis.
The fleeing Congolese come mainly from the province of North Kivu. Congolese Tutsi communities are particularly victims of widespread hate speech, discrimination, hostility and violence rooted in the genocide ideology propagated by the genocidal militia, the FDLR, and embraced by Congolese leadership and security bodies , accuse those concerned.
The first group of Congolese refugees fleeing the current conflict arrived in Rwanda in November 2022, when the M23 offensive approached Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, neighboring Rubavu district in the province of western Rwanda.
