Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs minister Seraphine Mukantabana has rubbished a recent report by Refugee International that claimed Rwanda was recruiting Burundian refugees into non-state armed groups as part of a systematic campaign involving both Burundian and Rwandan nationals.

Mukantabana, who was on Wednesday visiting Mahama Refugee Camp in Kirehe District for an early Christmas celebrations, said people who write such reports don’t have the refugees’ best interests at heart.

"I want to denounce their actions because they don’t want you to have a decent life; instead they want you to suffer. We don’t value any of their work because we don’t want to get diverted from addressing the real issues at hand here, which is to ensure your wellbeing,” she said.

Mukantabana added that most people who write such reports have hidden agendas that are aimed at endangering the refugees’ lives because their reports are not factual and there’s no evidence for their allegations.

She cited a case in which a man who is alleged to have masqueraded as an official of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) with the intention to incite the refugees but was eventually denounced by the agency.

"There’s a guy called Jeff Drumtra, who was with the UNHCR as a volunteer but he had other intentions. He called the media and urged the refugees to say that they are being drafted into the army. When they refused, he left the country and wrote an article about an imaginative and vile situation,” the minister said.

Rushed, predetermined report

Mukantabana said the report by Refugee International was written based on a three-hour visit, adding that such a time was not sufficient to write a critical report.

"We since found out that those people [Refugee International] are connected to Jeff Drumtra.”

Mukantabana’s words were echoed by Pastor Jean Bosco Kwibishatse, the refugee’s representative, who informed officials that they don’t have any recruitments going on.

"Honourable Minister, I would like to categorically say that there are no such actions of recruitment in this camp and we have never had any such activity. Those spreading such rumours just want us to continue suffering.

Please, tell them and all the authorities that all we require is their support in terms of shelter, food, clothing and educating our children. That’s all we want,” he said.

Kwibishatse added that they have formed associations that help people earn a living through informal employment so that they can support themselves.

Also in attendance was UNHCR Representative in Rwanda, Azam Saber, who urged the refugees to abide by the laws of the host country, be responsible and accountable to themselves.

"You have to take the first step in ensuring your safety and wellbeing before anything else. It’s the only way that you can live peacefully and we can be able to continue supporting you,” Saber said.

"Secondly, you also have to take the first step in identifying solutions to your problems to complement the support you receive from the government and all other partners.”

Burundian refugees first trickled into in the country in April before a mass exodus that saw thousands cross the borders within days in the run up to the controversial third term for President Pierre Nkurunziza and the botched coup plot.

There are already 73,000 refugees with Mahama Refugee Camp holding more than 50,000 refugees whereas others are in Kigali and other towns living with relatives or on their own, with others still in reception centres in Bugesera, Nyanza and Nyagatare.

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