Relocation of over 8,000 families

The government is relocating about 8,350 families from the Gishwati natural forest in northwest Rwanda to other areas of Gisenyi prefecture, according to the latest UNDP Rwanda weekly update. It said the families, who had fled Rwanda in 1959, returned to the country after the 1994 genocide and settled in designated areas bordering the forest. Over the past four years, the returnees have cultivated larger areas and raised
cattle in the forest, sparking government concern about environmental destruction in the area, the report said. "Two temporary sites have so far been set up in two communes of Gisenyi as more people continue to be removed from the forest," it stated. A recent UN/NGO mission found that the relocated families needed food assistance, plastic sheeting and health
care, the report added.