Rwandan refugees in Sangha ready for repatriation

Some 1,000 Rwandan refugees residing in Sangha department of northern Republic of Congo have said they are interested in being repatriated, Roger Bouka-Owoko, communications officer for the Observatoire congolais des droits de l'homme (OCDH), a national human rights NGO, told IRIN on Sunday. Speaking when he returned to the capital, Brazzaville, from an assessment mission, Bouka-Owoko said: "Although in Kabo, located about 75 km from Ouesso [the capital of Sangha], towards the border with the Central African Republic, refugees were reluctant [to be repatriated], in other areas we visited, such as Pokola, Ngombe and Ouesso, the refugees said they were interested in returning to their country." "However, they said this was contingent upon us - our NGO, the Congolese government and UNHCR - providing them reliable information regarding the current security and socio-political situation in Rwanda," he added. "Nevertheless, a couple of dozen refugees in the village of Pokola said they were willing to be repatriated immediately." Given that the majority of the refugees work in the agriculture and livestock sectors of their host communities, they asked for time to put their affairs in order before any repatriation programme begins. Bouka-Owoko conducted the assessment mission with representatives from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Congolese government. Insecurity of Rwandan refugees in this region of Congo was also discussed by the mission, in light of past incidents where the refugee community at large was punished by local residents for the misbehaviour of individual Rwandans. In November 2002, for example, in Tala-Tala, a Rwandan refugee burned a Congolese citizen alive, leading to acts of reprisal that threatened the stability of the entire department. Most recently, on 11 February, Felicien Ntungandhame, head of the Rwandan community in Ouesso, and his wife Gaudace Nyirasafari were murdered by unknown assailants. An investigation is currently underway. Also discussed with departmental authorities were problems related to the issuance of identification for the refugees. So far, Rwandan refugees in Sangha are required to acquire three different identity cards - one from the gendarmerie, one from the police and one from national immigration authorities. Following discussions with departmental authorities, however, Bouka-Owoko said a compromise was reached. "From now on, only one identity card issued by the immigration department will be required, free of cost," he stated. In June 2003, a tripartite agreement for the voluntary repatriation of Rwandan refugees was signed among the Congolese and Rwandan governments and UNHCR [see earlier IRIN story, "Kigali, Brazzaville, UN agency sign repatriation pact"] Under this accord, meetings between delegations of the two countries began. To this end, Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Charles Muligande visited Brazzaville in December 2003. At the same time, OCDH led an information-gathering mission to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in order to prepare an education campaign on voluntary repatriation for Rwandan refugees residing in the Congo.