Officials from the National Council for Refugees (CNR) have announced that they would soon start issuing Identity Cards for refugees to help them easily reintegrate into the community.

The exercise will get underway in September after the issuance of new IDs countrywide.

The refugees who would get electronic IDs include those from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia but who are officially recognized as refugees.

The Executive Secretary of CNR, Innocent Ngango, revealed this yesterday during a presentation of the council’s action plan for this year at the Ministry of Local Government head offices in Kacyiru.

"We want to issue Identity Cards to refugees so that they can easily be identified and assisted accordingly," Ngango said.

Ngango explained that the council had issued temporary permits to refugees who do not contain all the information about the bearer.

Ngango said that currently there are about 56,000 refugees in the country with 11,000 families but the IDs would be issued to those aged 16 and above.

"We have finalized the designing process and the IDs would constitute all the information of the bearer," Ngango added.

He however explained that the issuance the electronic IDs would not grant them Rwandan nationality.

Meanwhile, Ngango said that the refugee council will this year engage more in mobilising Rwandan refugees to return home and help them access good living conditions.

The official observed said that there are over 50,000 Rwandan refugees still living in various countries including Uganda, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Congo Brazzaville.

The Secretary General in the Ministry of Local Government, Eugene Barikana, urged CNR to make frequent visits to these refugees to mobilize them to return home as there was no reason for them to stay away.

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