WESTERN PROVINCE RUBAVU- Prime Minister Bernard Makuza has attacked local authorities for not finding a lasting solution concerning the pending evictions of residents of Gishwati forest. Government recently took a decision of relocating over a hundred families in an effort to sava the devastated forest.The decision has since attracted uproar among the evicted families claiming it was a violation of their fundamental right of residence. During the Premier’s visit to the area on Wednesday, he cast the blame on the local leaders in the area for not taking serious action in solving this problem. The area where these families are to be evicted is in Nyabihu district. “I have been getting information about this district and this problem, why don’t you work as a team to solve the issue rather than accusing one another…you should work as a team,” Makuza said during a meeting that brought him together with thousands of Nyabihu residents. He later held a closed door meeting with the local authorities. Gishwati Forest was partly deforested in the 1980s by agricultural development and in the 1990s during the resettlement of people following the civil war and Genocide. In the year 2000, some 440 families including thousands of returnees were settled in the surrounding areas by the government. In protest to their eviction from the forest, the residents a few months ago uprooted over 70,000 trees that had been planted by the Forestry Management Support Project (PAFOR). He condemned the resident over the action saying that evacuating them from the forest was in their best interest. “Some of you just want fields to cultivate your crops but you don’t look at the outcome,” he said citing the 2007 floods that left homeless thousands of families and destroyed crops worth millions. The floods that mainly devastated Nyabihu district were mainly blamed on the devastation of Gishwati natural forest. After the meeting, residents called upon the Premier to expedite the evacuation process by finding a suitable place for those who face eviction, a move that was welcomed by Makuza. During the meeting, the Premier also lauded the activities that were accomplished through the cooperation of residents and Rwanda Defence Forces in the on-going campaign dubbed Army Week. Residents and the army made bricks that will be used to construct70 houses for people left homeless by the 2007 floods. Ends
