Hundreds of Rwandans who fled in Congo come back in the repatriation of the UN

By ruth along | Associated Press

Goma, Congo – hundreds of Rwandan refugees who have lived in the east of the Congo since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda were repatriated on Saturday, said the United Nations refugee agency, after the rebels supported by Rwandans seized key parts in the region.

Most of the refugees were women and children, and 360 of them crossed the border of the buses provided by the Rwandan authorities and were escorted by the United Nations Commissioner of the Refugees and a Help Unless the Children, local authorities announced. The objective is to repatriate 2,000 people, said UNHCR.

“We are happy to welcome our compatriots. They are a precious workforce for the development of the country, “said Prosper Mulindwa, the Rwandan mayor of Rubavu, during a brief border ceremony.

Rapatrians have been transported to a transit center where they will receive emergency assistance and reintegration support.

They were one of the hundreds of thousands of Hutus who fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide sponsored by the state which left up to a million minority tutsis and moderate dead. Most had returned when Rwandan troops led by Tuts invaded Congo for the first time in 1996. But Rwandan authorities said thousands of Hutu militiamen and former soldiers had stayed and joined the Congo army to destabilize Rwanda.

For decades, the eastern Congo rich in minerals has been torn by the violence of government forces and various armed groups, including the M23 supported by Rwanda, whose recent resurgence has increased conflict and aggravated an already acute humanitarian crisis.

The rebels are supported by around 4,000 soldiers from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts.

Among the Rwandan returnees, personal testimonies have highlighted trips marked by exile and a deep link with a homeland that some have never known.

Nyirakajumba Twizere was born in 1996 in Congo and had never seen Rwanda.