The Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (Midmar), in conjunction with Kirehe District authorities, have begun preparations to resettle Rwandans recently expelled from Tanzania.According to sources, Tanzanian authorities last month gave Rwandans without what it termed as “valid residential documents” 14 days to leave the country.
The deadline expires today.
Several efforts to get a comment from the Tanzanian embassy in Kigali were futile. Calls to home affairs ministry office in Tanzania also failed to yield results by press time.
But Rwandan families that have been living in Tanzania since 1950s started trickling back in the country through Rusumo border a couple of days ago.
Yesterday, several returnees were still coming in with their families.
After being registered by immigration officials, they were transported to Nyamugari Sector in Kirehe District. By press time, at least 200 had arrived yesterday alone.
It is expected that an estimated 20,000 people may be on their way home. More than 700 have returned so far. Forty-eight families arrived through Rusumo border on Monday, while 33 crossed the border on Tuesday.
Government to accommodate
Jean Claude Rwahama, Midmar officer for refugee affairs, said government was ready to accommodate the returnees.
“We are in Kirehe District to arrange for the Rwandans coming from Tanzania. They need shelter, food, etc, as more arrangements are made for permanent settlement,” he said.
Protais Murayire, the Kirehe District mayor, confirmed that the officials were busy with preparation to receive the returnees.
“Kirehe neighbours Tanzania, so we have to be part of the preparation to receive the Rwandans. We have done it before; Kiyanzi village in Nyamugari and areas of Mahama Sector will accommodate the returnees,” he said.
According to some of the expelled Rwandans, their biggest concern was their cattle that could not be moved fast enough to beat the deadline.
“We believe Rwandan officials will sort it out with their Tanzanian counterparts. Cattle markets in Tanzania were closed and we couldn’t get where to sell the cows, even at give-away prices.”
“We left our animals behind; it is a desperate situation, people can board cars, but cows can’t,” said Joyce Mukamurigo, a mother.
Many Rwandans were given Tanzanian citizenship through naturalisation during founder president Julius Nyerere’s regime.
Many Rwandans were given the citizenship popularly known as ‘Urayiya’ in Kiswahili in 1981 and 1982.
But, according to Mukamurigo, such a citizenship no longer counts.
“It doesn’t really matter whether you have the paper/citizenship or not, authorities will tear it up and expel you,” she said.
‘Legitimate deportation’
However, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Tanzania Benjamin Rugangazi said most of the Rwandans repatriating might have been illegally living in Tanzania’s Kagera region, where government is conducting a major crackdown on illegal migrants.
Rugangazi said there had been widespread banditry in the region and one of the measures that the Tanzanian government had taken was to send illegal immigrants back to their home countries before the end of this week.
“There are some Rwandans who feel that they are concerned by this decision and have started going back home,” he said on Wednesday.
Rugangazi said the Rwandan High Commission in Tanzania has also encouraged Rwandans who might be illegally living in the country to return home and asked the Tanzanian government to ensure that the operation is conducted in a calm way.
“Local officials here have been given instructions not to brutalise anyone in the process,” he said, adding that embassy officials have no evidence of violence so far.
It is not yet clear how many Rwandans live in the Kagera region, but many of the area’s immigrants are Rwandans, with Ugandans and Burundians taking small numbers.
The New Times
