Sensitisation will help more refugees return

One Rwandan refugee, Marie Louise Muhonganseko and her family of four children, upon return from exile last week made an interesting comment when she said: “No refugee will ever be happy when they are in another country even those who claim to be rich.”Muhonganseko is the wife of the former senior commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Lt Col. Idrissa Muradadi, who abandoned the militia group last month and returned home.The government’s vision is to ensure that all Rwandans feel at home and those who are still in exile, return and are fully reintegrated.According to Muhonganseko and many other refugees who have returned, had they known better, they would have abandoned the harsh refugee life and come home if they had accurate information about the situation in Rwanda.The country’s leadership knows and understands the challenges of being a refugee. That is why they do everything possible to ensure that returnees are settled and return to normal life, while also ensuring that no citizen is forced to flee their country because of divisionism, discrimination or violence – the reasons as to why many Rwandans fled their country.The policies in place since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi has seen more than 3.4 million refugees return voluntarily.With an estimated 100,000 Rwandans still living as refugees, mainly in East, South, Central and West Africa, more needs to be done to sensitise them about the benefits of returning home.It is the misinformation from detractors that has kept them away and this must be done away with

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Sensitisation will help more refugees return