Repatriated refugees resettled

RWAMAGANA - Rwandan refugees, who were recently repatriated from Uganda, have been resettled in their former villages. A group of about 60 people arrived in Rwamagana District, Friday, and the authorities started re-locating them in their respective sectors The returnees, most of them women, were first registered and then given food and other equipment to begin a new life. Jean Claude Cyuma, the Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Affairs, revealed that almost all the arrivals left Rwanda in 1994. “These are people who left the country fleeing justice or other related concerns. Only the young ones followed the rest blindly. What is bothering us, however, is the economic demands of resettling them,” he said. Alphonse Habiyamuremye, 32, one of the returnees said that they were caught unawares and expelled leaving all their belongings in Uganda. He further revealed that not all Rwandans were expelled since there were many disguised as Congolese. “We never carried even a goat we owned…but of course, many Rwandans are still in the camps disguised in many forms. You know they have changed names and nationality to be called Congolese,” he said. Anonciata Mushimimana, a mother of six, regretted the years she spent in Uganda. “All the time we spent in Uganda expecting better life, is now a waste. The people we left here are in a better situation and we are going to depend on them to begin life afresh,” she said. Ends