Rebel group limits access to returnees from Rwanda

The Rwandan-backed rebel group governing much of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is limiting access to refugees in the Masisi region of North Kivu who have been forcibly repatriated from Rwanda, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

In a statement, it said a UNHCR team had been allowed to visit the returnees - who now number over 8,100 - in the village of Kichanga but only after "long negotiations" with the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma). Furthermore, permission was only granted on condition that the team did not interview the returnees, spokesman Kris Janowski told journalists in Geneva.

Reports from Rwanda indicate that between 2,000 and 3,000 refugees may have fled from Gihembe camp in central Rwanda - one of the two camps from where the refugees are being repatriated - into surrounding villages to escape the forced return, Janowski said. Sections of the camp had been evacuated and destroyed as a means of protection, humanitarian sources told IRIN.

RCD-Goma and the Rwandan government insist that the refugees are returning voluntarily, while the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and UNHCR say the repatriation has been forced. "Mostly all individuals consulted in the camp complain about the sudden nature of the repatriation as well as the absence of free choice," said JRS in a statement.

In a letter to Rwandan President Paul Kagame in early September, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, said the agency would not be associated with the operation, which appeared to be "neither voluntary not sustainable". Ron Mponda deputy representative of UNHCR in Rwanda confirmed to IRIN on 5 September that the agency had not been informed of the exercise, and that there was no legal framework in place - such as a tripartite agreement between the UN, Rwanda and RCD-Goma - to sanction it.

A joint communique issued by UNHCR and the Rwandan government on 13 September emphasised that the decision to return was voluntary and was to be taken by each refugee without the use of force or intimidation. Rwanda also guaranteed refugee status to those who did not wish to return, while UNHCR guaranteed to assist them. At a press briefing in Kigali, Mponda said the communique was an important step forward to ensure that returns were voluntary.

Since then the numbers of those returning had decreased, a humanitarian source told IRIN.

At the same press briefing, Rwanda's Minister of State for Social Affairs Odette Nyiramilimo accused some aid workers of "inciting" the refugees not to return to the DRC because they wanted to keep their jobs.

Before the repatriation exercise, the two refugee camps in Rwanda accommodated a total of 31,923 refugees between them. Most are ethnic Tutsis - known as the Banyamulenge - who fled Hutu attacks in North Kivu in 1995 and 1996.