RUNDOWN
• Rwandan President, has threatened to evict thousands of Congolese refugees living in Rwanda.
• This comes after the international community blamed Rwanda for the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Some countries in the East African Community have deployed their forces in the region to help end the conflict.
Paul Kagame Rwandan President, has threatened to evict thousands of Congolese refugees living in Rwanda.
This comes after the international community blamed Rwanda for the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony for Rwanda’s new Senate president, Francois Xavier Kalinda, Kagame said that they cannot keep being host to refugees for which they are later on held accountable in some way or even abused about — refugees as a result of ethnic cleansing based in another country — and they must be a dumping ground of those people who are being deprived of their rights.
“We are really prepared to be blamed, but we will be blamed for doing what we must do,” Kagame said in an address punctuated by clapping and applause from members of the Rwandan Parliament.
In a recent U.N. report Rwanda is blamed for supporting the M23 rebel movement which is mostly Tutsi in fighting at the east of the country against the Congo government. Rwanda has consistently denied the accusations, saying it is Congo’s internal issue.
The M23 rebel movement claims to fight against persecution of Congolese of Tutsi origin.
It however seems to have fueled even more hatred against them from other ethnic groups in several parts of Congo. In the recent weeks thousands of Congolese refugees have been fleeing into Rwanda and Uganda.
“We fled from persecution, they are killing us and our children,” one of the refugees told VOA on arrival Sunday in the Rwandan border town of Rubavu. “I came with nothing; I do not know how I made it here.”
In a report released by the Rwandan Ministry of Emergency Management, at least 60% of Rwanda’s refugee population is Congolese. Some countries in the East African Community have deployed their forces in the region to help end the conflict.
M23 rebels claim to have withdrawn from areas they had seized like Kibumba town and Rumangabo military camp, as a sign of goodwill in the implementation of the Nairobi and Luanda peace process. But the government accuses the rebel force of deploying in new areas which has strongly been denied by the M23 rebel movement.
By Irene Mutu.
