Rwanda : the sport supposed to unite refugees risks going wrong

The ministry in charge of refugees and the UNHCR organized inter-camp sports games for refugees to promote love, understanding and solidarity among them. Different disciplines were scheduled at the Mahama camp which came out on top.

Five disciplines took place there : Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Karate and Sitting Volleyball. Players represented five camps namely Mahama, Nyabiheke, Mugombwa, Kigeme and Kiziba.

On the program, games should last a week, that is, from August 16 to 22, the closing date and prize distribution, but the final was played on Wednesday. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Mahama comes out winner

Almost all cups were won by teams from the Mahama camp.

The latter ranked first in three disciplines namely Football, Basketball and Sitting Volleyball. In total, eight prizes were won by Mahama players.

The Kiziba camp returned empty-handed.

“The men and women players are a source of pride for this camp, they make us forget the misery of exile”, reacted refugees who confided in SOS Médias Burundi, very happy.

The Mugombwa camp comes in second place.

Only the first two teams are awarded with 1 million and 500,000 thousand Rwanda francs respectively.

Boomerang effect…

Even in 2022, it was the teams from Mahama camp that also won almost all the trophies. This year, the other camps had sworn to join forces to thwart Mahama, according to one of the camp’s former coaches.

“For the simple reason that Mahama camp is the only one that hosts Burundians while the others host Congolese. So, in the end, the competition seems to be between Congolese from elsewhere and Burundians from Mahama, which should not be the case, since Mahama also hosts Congolese, even if they are few in number,” he analyses.

Worse still, a team of Congolese from Mahama camp “let themselves be defeated.”

“What happened on Monday is unacceptable! Congolese volleyball players from Mahama camp voluntarily and knowingly, visibly, let their opponents from Kiziba win, so that they too could continue the competition,” says a sports refugee who followed the game.

For Burundian refugees, the goal may not be achieved.

“If a goal is scored by Mahama team, refugees cheer and pretend that it is Burundians who score even if it is Mahama Congolese team. This is also evident by the fact that the entire staff seems to support teams other than Mahama’s,” complain Burundian refugees from Mahama, believing that the fact that almost all the players are Burundians in Mahama should not justify their marginalization.

“In 2022, only one cup out of five was won by Kiziba’s camp, the others returned to Mahama’s camp, so there must be fairness,” murmured a member of the organization’s staff.

“In competition, it is talents that compete, fairness has no place because nothing is given on a plate. If nothing changes, these games are more likely to divide rather than unite, especially in Mahama camp which hosts the two communities,” analyzes a community leader.

Especially since, according to him, Mahama’s Burundians, when they celebrate a goal or a match won, they shout : “Umwana yankwa ni we akura” (It is the unloved child who grows up well), to show that they are doing well despite not having many fans among the organizers or the staff.

These competitions are organized every two years. But refugee leaders asked that they be planned every year, a wish that was accepted by the organizers.

“The aim is to allow refugees to know each other better and strengthen their friendship and thus initiate a form of mutual aid, through entertainment and the discovery of talents in this closed world of refugees”, stressed in turn representatives of the ministry in charge of refugees and the UNHCR that organized these games.

Rwanda is home to more than 135,000 refugees.

Mahama, which hosted the tournament, has more than 63,000 refugees, including more than 40,000 Burundians.