Mahama (Rwanda) : worrying refugee census

The General Directorate of Immigration and Emigration organized a re-verification census of refugees at the Mahama camp in Rwanda. The objective is to update the data according to the Rwandan government. But refugees speak of an activity “that worries us”. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The activity which began on October 9 will end on the 23rd, according to a press release posted by the Immigration and Emigration office at the Mahama camp located further east of Rwanda.

All refugees were informed of “not taking lightly” this session at the risk of “being removed from the list of refugee identity card holders, and immediately losing the refugee status”.

“We recheck the complete identity of each refugee and asylum seeker. We examine the refugee ‘proof’ granted by the UNHCR and the ministry in charge of refugees and then we compare the data with our database”, reassure Immigration agents at the Mahama camp.

“Cases of fraud and usurpation are said to have pushed authorized services to recheck identities”, according to refugees who welcome the exercise “which will separate the goats from the sheep” to insinuate that there are “ill-intentioned people from Burundi who came to spy” who would have slipped into the list of refugees.

“Other refugee status holders registered in Mahama camp may have moved or left the country for various reasons. So, updating the data is necessary,” said a member of the refugee representative committee, which is working to ensure that everyone is “re-registered.”

To avoid congestion at the Immigration office, refugees have been subdivided into villages and by household size.

“A head of household presents himself, with a refugee proof. He declares the identity of all those in his charge, those who have identity cards and answers a few curiosity questions,” explained a Burundian refugee, head of a family, who was subjected to this test.

This is the first time since the establishment of this camp in 2015 to accommodate the first Burundian refugees, that such an activity has been carried out, which worries those concerned.

“There must be a hidden motive because this kind of census has not been organized for almost ten years. The other concern is that those who do not register will be considered as having returned while in many cases this is not true. There are also unaccompanied children who are in boarding schools,” indicate Burundian refugees who urge Immigration “not to rush to make bad decisions” following the results of this census.

Congolese refugees living in this camp are also concerned, but “Burundians are the first targets,” we learned.

Mahama is home to more than 65,000 refugees, including more than 40,000 Burundians, the others being Congolese.

This camp located further east of Rwanda not far from the border with Tanzania, was created in 2015 to receive Burundians who fled the 2015 crisis that was triggered by another controversial term of the late President Pierre Nkurunziza the same year, before also sheltering Congolese refugees fleeing the insecurity that prevails in the east of the vast central African country, especially in the province of North Kivu.