UNHCR says Rwandan refugees "most pressing problem"

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata on Monday said the most pressing refugee problem for the Great Lakes region was "to tackle the problem of Rwandans who had not yet returned after fleeing the country in the aftermath of genocide". In a briefing to the UN Security Council, she said she had taken two key decisions on the issue: that UNHCR would resume support for the repatriation of Rwandans still in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and that Rwandans in the Republic of Congo would be offered either repatriation or the opportunity to settle in the north of the host country. UNHCR had received assurances from rebel authorities controlling eastern DRC of access to those Rwandans requesting repatriation, and of the voluntary nature of the process, Ogata said. She added that while donors had supported humanitarian appeals for Rwanda relatively well, assistance had been slower in coming for the country's rehabilitation. On the second point, those Rwandan refugees in the Republic of Congo who opted to settle in the north of the country would receive a one-time assistance package to assist integration in a settlement scheme under discussion with Brazzaville, Ogata said.