Rwanda, Congo discuss repatriation of refugees

More Rwandan refugees living in Congo-Brazzaville would come home if extensive campaigns were conducted to sensitise them on how to do it, officials attending at a tripartite technical meeting in Kigali have said.Delegates from Congo-Brazzaville, the Government of Rwanda, and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) met in Kigali, yesterday, to devise strategies on how to help the refugees make choices.The refugees have to choose between voluntary repatriation, being integrated into local communities in Congo-Brazzaville, or re-applying for a new refugee status.UNHCR has already recommended to all countries to invoke the Cessation Clause on Rwandan refugees, ending the status on June 30, 2013, with some host countries such as Congo-Brazzaville moved to implement the clause.The Deputy Secretary-General at the Congolese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Chantal Maryse Itoua-Apoyolo, said her government’s challenge is in documenting the refugees.She said some of the immigrants have no identity papers and her country would like to know why they are travelling in the first place and what kind of help they need.“We would like to work together with our partners to ensure that they (Rwandan immigrants) choose responsibly,” Itoua-Apoyolo said.She disclosed that half of the estimated 8,000 Rwandans in her country who lost their refugee status in June have already chosen to reapply for it instead of returning home.That choice has raised suspicion on the part of Congolese officials as to why the immigrants are not willing to go back to their homeland.“If they want to stay in Congo, then they need identity papers from their country. They can’t just stay,” Itoua-Apoyolo said.Only 96 Rwandan refugees have returned home from Congo-Brazzaville since June.The UNHCR is working with both governments to share as much information as possible with the refugees to encourage them to voluntarily repatriate.“We need to step up the sensitisation campaign. We would like to encourage more of them to come home,” said Matthew Crentsil, the UNHCR deputy country representative.Rwanda maintains that it is ready to receive all its citizens who wish to come back home and help them reintegrate back into their local communities.“Every effort must be pursued to allow willing refugees to return home. Rwanda is ready to receive them,” said Antoine Ruvebana, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (Midmar).Officials at Midmar say more and more tips on how to go back home might soon reach thousands of Rwandans still in exile.About 70,000 Rwandans are refugee claimants in several countries around the world. The government is working with host countries and other partners to reach out to the immigrants and explain the possible options for them since the Cessation Clause was invoked.The clause has triggered the repatriation of nearly 2,000 Rwandans since it was invoked in the last four months, Ruvebana said in an interview yesterday.Last week, government commenced a process to issue travel documents to all former Rwandan refugees in Zambia to facilitate their repatriation and or local integration, following the coming into force of the Cessation Clause which forfeited their refugee status.

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Rwanda, Congo discuss repatriation of refugees