Rwandans reluctant to go home

The UN's refugee agency in Namibia on Tuesday said it would undertake a verification mission to confirm news reports that some Rwandans have fled the Osire refugee camp, 250 km north of the capital, Windhoek, to avoid being repatriated later this year.

"The first time we heard of Rwandan refugees fleeing the camp was from a newspaper report on Monday. Up until now we have not received any independent confirmation on the issue, but we will travel to Osire next week to conduct an information campaign for refugees at the camp," the UN High Commission for Refugees representative in Namibia, Hesdy Rathling, told IRIN.

"During this campaign we will look into the issue of how many refugees want to register to return home, and determine if, in fact, any have left the camp," he added.

On Monday a group of Rwandan asylum seekers told the Namibian newspaper they were not ready to return, citing ongoing insecurity in their home country. The group claimed that some Rwandan refugees had already left Osire for neighbouring countries.

According to a tripartite agreement between the UNHCR and the governments of Namibia and Rwanda signed in September last year, some 612 Rwandan refugees are expected to be voluntarily repatriated in June.

The Namibian authorities said they were unaware of the complaints raised by the Rwandan refugees.

"We have not received any formal complaint thus far but, should we receive such a complaint, we will act to resolve the issue," acting commissioner for refugees, Jason Absalom said.

Last month IRIN reported on the reluctance of some Rwandan refugees in Zambia to return home. Zambian officials said that despite continued assurances of peace in Rwanda, some Hutu refugees had raised concerns of alleged persecution by the authorities and the local community.

Moves are now underway to encourage Rwandans who had gone home last year to return to Zambia and tell refugees about their experiences.

An estimated 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists between April and July 1994. Tutsi dominated rebels overthrew the government and hundreds of thousands of Rwandans fled the country.