Interview with UNHCR representative Kalunga Lutato

Insecurity and the threat of it has caused thousands of people in the Great Lakes region to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, seemingly more secure than theirs. Some host countries have just emerged from war while others continue to suffer war or are faced with the threat of insurgency. The interrelationship of the security situation of the countries in the region has complicated its refugee matrix: There are Rwandan refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Tanzania, and Burundian refugees in Rwanda and Tanzania, and refugees headed home. In an interview granted IRIN on 22 May, the representative UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Rwanda, Kalunga Lutato, puts the refugee picture into sharper focus. QUESTION: How many Burundi refugees are there in Rwanda? When did they come and in which part of Rwanda are they sheltered? ANSWER: There are 1,670 Burundian refugees in Rwanda (end 2001 statistics), including 523 in the Kigeme camp, Gikongoro Province, with the rest residing in Kigali. There are two different groups: those who came in 1972 and those who arrived after 1993. Q: What were the reasons they give for seeking refuge in Rwanda? A: Insecurity is the main reason cited for flight. The inter-ethnic conflict is still pushing people out of the country. Some have been victims of FNL-Palipehutu. Liberal Hutus or Tutsis claim to be targeted for not taking sides with their ethnic group in the Burundian conflict and are considered traitors. Hutus fleeing to Rwanda are also considered traitors by their own ethnic group. Q: Burundi has been trying to repatriate refugees from Tanzania but nothing is being said about those in Rwanda. Why is that? A: Up to this point, UNHCR only facilitates voluntary repatriation to Burundi. This means assisting those who, of their own free choice, choose to return to Burundi today. The security situation in Burundi does not allow for the active promotion of voluntary repatriation, because such returns would not be durable. Few refugees are willing to return to Burundi and this is due to the prevailing objective situation of insurgency, and the accompanying insecurity in Burundi today. Q: Rwanda has also been receiving its nationals who sought refuge in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Is the UNHCR involved in the repatriation process? How many Rwandans are living in D.R. Congo as refugees and how many are expected back in the near future? A: Up to end of April 2002 there were just over 2,000 Rwandan returnees from the DRC. The return movements have not been "organised" in the classical sense. Rather, they have been spontaneous coupled with limited assistance from UNHCR to facilitate the returns. The refugees contact the UNHCR offices in DRC (Goma or Bukavu), and are referred to UNHCR offices in either Gisenyi or Cyangugu in Rwanda, which in turn assist the refugees with their return to their areas of origin or preferred return in Rwanda. The UNHCR in DRC has not had access to Rwandan refuges in the eastern part of the DRC since about 1996. Those who are assisted by UNHCR number about 40,000. It is believed that there are many others, close to or more than this figure, scattered in the forest areas of eastern DRC. Q: Rwandan refugees in Tanzania have been sending scouts to their country to assess the security situation. However, refugees have not returned home in large numbers. What are the reasons for this? A: This is true and it is consistent with well-established doctrine intended to promote massive returns. The reason these visits might not have yielded the desired results is that there are still refugees who would rather wait and see the progress of the transitional period [of government], which ends in 2003. Yet others have cited the recent introduction of the traditional gacaca system of justice, designed to expeditiously dispose of the backlog of 130,000 suspects of the 1994 genocide still awaiting trial. Yet others simply do not believe that the war has ended and that there have been some positive changes in terms of governance in Rwanda. Decreases in numbers [of returnees] can also be explained by the fact that when UNHCR noticed that some former returnees were coming back to refugee camps masquerading as new arrivals, the agency took measures to prevent this incidence of "recycling"; so termed for refugees who previously repatriated voluntarily and subsequently return simply to benefit form the provision of material assistance, using different identities. One of the measures used to detect this practice is to photograph those being repatriated. This has naturally frustrated the schemes of the recyclers, leading to a noticeable reduction in the numbers of those volunteering to return. Q: What is the UNHCR doing to encourage Rwandan refugees to return home? A: The UNHCR has been promoting the establishment of Tripartite Voluntary Repatriation Commissions with all major countries of asylum hosting Rwandan refugees. These arrangements constitute the legal framework under which voluntary repatriation can occur and they involve the government of Rwanda,though its Joint Commission for the Repatriation and re-integration of Rwandan Refugees, governments in the countries of asylum and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Q: Many Congolese recently fled into Rwanda following the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano. Have they all returned home? Are they considered as refugees or displaced people? A: Most of those who were in Gisenyi returned to the DRC sometime in April 2002. The factors compelling their departure from their country of origin were not related to the refugee definition. They were never considered as refugees, albeit they were clearly in need of emergency humanitarian assistance that UNHCR, together with the other UN Agencies, extended to them purely on humanitarian grounds. Q: What is the total number of refugees living in Rwanda and, apart from those from Burundi, who are the others and what are their numbers? A: Globally, there are 34,786 refugees according to year 2001 statistics. The majority of these are Congolese refugees. There are also fewer numbers of refugees from other nationalities, who are found mainly in urban areas.