On June 28, 2012, six African ambassadors accredited to Rwanda visited Congolese refugees hosted in Nkamira Transit center in Rubavu district.
The delegation comprised ambassadors representing: Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania as well as the Chargee d’Affaire of DRC and the charge D’affaire of South Africa. UN agencies also were part of the delegation: WPF Abdulaye Balde, UNHCR: Neimah Warsame, UNFPA representative and World Bank Representative in Rwanda.
They assisted to the transferring of refugees from Nkamira to Kigeme camp and thereafter visited camp facilities including accommodations, health center and examined how verification and registration exercise is conducted.
UNHCR figures indicate that the present camp Nkamira Transit Camp has been over stretched since it was initially supposed to accommodate 2,600 refugees, but over the last few weeks, the influx has seen it playing host to about 10,800, as by June 1, 2012 and the number persistently increase with approximately 200 individuals on average crossing the border into Rwanda every day.
The group helped to transfer refugees from Nkamira to Kigeme camp and thereafter visited camp facilities including accommodations, health center and examined how verification and registration exercise is conducted.
UNHCR staff in Rwanda report that more than 8,200 refugees had crossed from DRC’s North Kivu province since April 27 and made their way to the Nkamira transit centre, some 20 kilometres inside Rwanda from the Goma-Gisenyi crossing. These are in addition to the 55,000 Congolese refugees that Rwanda is already hosting.
The delegation had a conversation with refugee representatives to hear about their testimonies and wishes. In their testimonies, refugees’ representatives pointed a finger to MONUSCO soldiers saying that MONUSCO are raping women and persecuting residents instead of protecting them.
African ambassadors denounced to such kind of human right abuse saying that the Government of Congo should take responsibility of resolving its problems without accusing anyone.
Richard Kabonero, ambassador of Uganda in Rwanda said, they are being persecuted because they speak Kinyarwanda and FARDC soldier tell them that they are Rwandans and should go back to Rwanda. Refugees say also that Congolese who speak Kinyarwanda are wrongly accused to be Rwandans who are helping M23.
He added, irrespective the language anyone speaks, the protection of the population on the soil of DRC in under the responsibility of the Government of Congo
Since November 2011, when presidential and parliamentary elections were held in the DRC, an estimated 300,000 people have been newly displaced in North and South Kivu provinces.
This is on top of the more than 1.1 million people in the area who had fled their homes during earlier violence. Countrywide including these numbers, more than 2 million people are now uprooted, according to UN figures.