SOUTHERN PROVINCE

RUHANGO—Overwhelming excitement took centre stage on Monday as four Rwandan families returned to their homes from Uganda.

The gladdened returnees were received at Ruhango district offices and transported to their respective homes in Nyarurama cell, Ntongwe sector, late in the day after spending a couple hours chatting with residents.

The group is among the 3000 Rwandans who where expelled from Tanzania under the ‘Kibati group’, which was repatriated from the Nakivale refugee camp in western Uganda last week.

These included four women identified as Nait Kubwimana, Marie Louise Mukasafari, Jacqueline Musabyimana, and Console Nyiranzage; and nine children.

"We are glad to be home again after 13 years of isolation from our own kinsmen. We are here to work together to build a new community and learn from each others’ experiences,” Kubwimana said.

"The journey home was long and it’s exciting to see how Rwanda has changed over the years…we hope to continue with farming activities so as to integrate easily.”

The returnees carried with them food and personal belongings and were accompanied by Alline Uwamahoro, a district official and area security personnel.

Uwamahoro could not immediately reveal the numbers expected but said that the district expects to receive more returnees in due course.

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