UN agency begins refugee repatriation

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun the repatriation of Rwandan refugees in the Republic of Congo (ROC), an official told IRIN on Thursday. UNHCR Protection officer Fructueux Amegnisse said 20 Rwandans were flown home on Wednesday on a UNHCR-chartered aircraft. They had been living in the ROC since 1997, he added. The repatriation follows the signing of a tripartite agreement between ROC authorities, the Rwandan government and the UNHCR in June 2003. For the last seven years, the 20 refugees had been living mainly in the northern and central regions of Sangha and Cuvette, as well as in the southern part of the capital, Brazzaville, Amegisse said. UNHCR reported that approximately 5,000 Rwandan refugees remain in ROC, including 700 at the agency's Kintele camp, 26 km outside Brazzaville. In December 2003, a ROC human rights organisation, l'Observatoire Congolais des Droits de l'Homme, in conjunction with UNHCR, visited the Rwandan capital, Kigali, for an information campaign to sensitise Rwandans on voluntary repatriations of refugees from the ROC and from other neighbouring countries.