Kampala, Kigali agree on refugee repatriation

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the governments of Rwanda and Uganda signed on Thursday a tripartite agreement on the voluntary repatriation of thousands of Rwandan refugees living in Uganda, Radio Rwanda reported. "We have sealed the deal, what remains now is to move into Uganda to sensitise Rwandans in refugee camps to return," the radio quoted Abdul Khalim Haleraimana, who is in charge of refugee repatriation in Rwanda, as saying. Up to 26,000 Rwandans are reported to be in refugee camps mostly in western Uganda. Haleraimana and the Ugandan minister for Disaster preparedness and refugees, Christine Aparo, represented their countries during the signing of the agreement. "We are finalising a plan of action on the repatriation of the refugees," Kalunga Lutato, the UNHCR country representative in Rwanda, told IRIN. Meanwhile, the radio reported that 670 Rwandan refugees returned home on Thursday from Lukore Province in Tanzania. In addition to Uganda, Rwanda has signed similar tripartite agreements with Malawi, Togo, Zambia and Tanzania. It is estimated that 2.5 million people fled Rwanda during and after the 1994 genocide that claimed the lives of at least 800,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.