A historical introduction...

"THE GREAT LAKES REFUGEE CRISIS"

 

The Great Lakes refugee crisis is the common name for the situation beginning with the exodus in April 1994 of over two million Rwandans to neighboring countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide.

Many of the refugees were Hutu ethnics fleeing the predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which had gained control of the country at the end of the genocide.

 

In the months leading up to the genocide in Rwanda, UN officials and western diplomats grew increasingly concerned about the threat to political stability posed by millions of refugees and internally displaced persons in the Great Lakes region.

Attempts by the international community to address this refugee crisis became enmeshed in political infighting inside the country.

 

Three overlapping refugee crises in Rwanda and neighboring Burundi:

 

• Tutsi refugees from Rwanda. The State Department estimated there were 550,000 refugees, predominantly Tutsis, in Central Africa, most of whom fled Rwanda in the pogroms that followed the overthrow of the Tutsi monarchy in 1959. The largest exile communities were in Uganda (200,000) and Burundi (245,000).

 

• Internally displaced persons fleeing RPF incursions into northern Rwanda from Uganda in 1990 and 1993. The State Department estimated 350,000 Rwandans (predominantly Hutus, but also Tutsis) remained displaced as a result of fighting between the Rwandan government and the RPF.

 

• Hutu refugees from Burundi. An October 1993 coup attempt in Burundi and the assassination of the country’s democratically elected Hutu president by Tutsi army officers resulted in an exodus of refugees, predominantly Hutus, from Burundi. According to the State Department, about 287,000 Burundian refugees remained in southern Rwanda in March 1994.

 

Each of these three groups had its own distinct grievances and aspirations, dating back many decades.

The Tutsi diaspora served as a natural recruiting ground for the RPF.

According to a former US diplomat in Kigali, Joyce Leader, Hutu refugees from Burundi were “radicalized” by their experiences and were “potential recruits” for the Interahamwe militia groups who were responsible for some of the worst episodes of the genocide in Rwanda.  

International officials devoted considerable diplomatic attention to the refugee problem in Rwanda.

 

The Rwandan government and the RPF signed a protocol settling refugee issues in June 1993 as part of the Arusha negotiations.

 

But, Instead of implementing the agreement, UN peacekeepers were overwhelmed by a fresh wave of refugees from Burundi following the October 1993 assassination of that country’s president, Melchior Ndadaye.

 

UN officials were wary of providing assistance to Tutsi refugees and internally displaced persons in northern Rwanda for fear of creating a “pull factor” that would result in even larger numbers of refugees. 

 

THE SITUATION TODAY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Rwanda has been hosting refugees, mainly from the DRC, but also from other African countries, for decades. The majority of the refugees are hosted in five camps - Gihembe, Kigeme, Kiziba, Mugombwa and Nyabiheke. 

• The Central Africa and Great Lakes subregion is fraught with multiple conflicts and political instability. In addition to the crisis in the Central African Republic which has affected many countries in the subregion, the precarious security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has also seen large-scale refugee movements into Rwanda and other neighbouring countries.

• More than 50,000 Burundians have entered Rwanda and other neighboring countries since mid-April, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). On a continent plagued by refugee crises, the exodus represents a new challenge for Rwanda.

• Some 50,000 refugees who fled the DRC in the mid-1990s & over 30,000 new arrivals from eastern DRC since April 2012 escaping from armed clashes between government forces and non-state groups

• Over the past few years, thousands of refugees have returned to Rwanda and another 10,000 are expected to do so in 2015. 

 

OUR ACTION IN RWANDA

 

 

• AFRDP is providing help in 2 of the five major refugee camps in Rwanda, Gihembe and Mugombwa.

 

• We help provide healthcare, water, construction and sanitation services (basic infrastructures and digging wells) as well as HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation prevention (with a focus on preventing HIV mother-to-child transmission). 

 

 (In the camps, people receive an average of just 12 litres of water per day, as the landscape and infrastructure of Gihembe and Mugombwa camps require water to be deviated from sources located approximately 15 and 28 kilometres away, respectively.)

 

• Our activities started in June 2014 and include vocational training (mostly tailoring and farming), small business creation and support, cooperatives focusing on agricultural and small livestock farming.

 

• AFRDP is planting trees and bamboo to prevent soil erosion and to provide economic opportunities for camp residents.

 

• AFRDP is distributing Aqua boxes, food, basic hygiene and cooking kits, and basic medicine to Gihembe and Mugombwa camp residents.

 

• AFRDP is helping issuing birth certificates to all new borns as currently there is a backlog of 18,000 birth certificates.

 

• AFRDP will help support the construction of additional schools.