The Ugandan Government should protect and assist all Rwandan refugees according to its national and international obligations (10.10.07)
Public Statement
The UDF-Inkingi expresses its disappointment in the recent massive deportation of close to 3,000 Rwandan refugees known as “Kibati group”. Information gathered from refugees in Uganda indicates that that exercise was conducted against their will and with ruthlessness even though officials from both UNCHR Uganda and from Ugandan government authorities in charge of refugees would like us to believe otherwise.
The UDF-Inkingi is opposed to any exercise of forced deportations of refugees and reminds the Ugandan authorities that it is their responsibility to comply with Uganda’s national and international obligations in respect to providing protection and assistance to any person seeking asylum on its territory on the ground of expressed fears of lack of safety in his/her country of origin or first asylum.
The majority of “Kibati group” refugees left Tanzania in 2003 after that country threatened them of forceful repatriation. Some of them were Rwandans who were repatriated from Tanzania in December 1996 during the massive operations conducted by the TPDF at that time but were forced to flee afresh to Uganda .
“Human Rights First” wrote in a press release in April 2003 that “(Kibati group) refugees often (had) entirely legitimate reasons for leaving their country of first asylum”. It added that “where a genuine fear of persecution is expressed, including that relating to a country of first asylum, the claim must be examined by the receiving country” and that “UNHCR reported in March 2003, that many Rwandan refugees in Tanzania were expressing credible fears relating to forcible return to, and persecution in, Rwanda”. The human right body added that “not all of the Kibati group (were) Rwandan refugees who enjoyed asylum in Tanzania immediately prior to their arrival in Uganda” and that “some of the Kibati group (were) former Rwandan refugees from Tanzania who in fact returned to their homes in Rwanda during the repatriation operation or earlier, but were unable to find safety (in Rwanda)” and then “they thus once again were forced to seek refuge outside the country—this time in Uganda”.
The US based human rights body recommended that:
- (a) a process is initiated to determine the status of the Kibati group;
- (b) clear guidelines are drawn up and implemented for the application of the exclusion provisions of the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1969 OAU Refugee Convention (which stipulate that those in relation to whom there are serious reasons for considering that they have committed serious crimes are excluded from protection as refugees) by way of a thorough and transparent screening procedure;
- (c) UNHCR and the international community offer its assistance to the Ugandan government in drawing up plans for, and in the operation of, any screening procedure;
- (d) arrangements are made for immediate provision of adequate humanitarian assistance to the Kibati group. This could include the issuing of a request to the World Food Program to commence assessment of food and shelter needs. The Red Cross should also be invited to ensure that medical care is made available to the Kibati group at their nearby Nakivale refugee camp facilities;
The UDF-Inkingi is shocked that these recommendations were completely disregarded and expresses its deep concerns about the threat posed to other Rwandan refugees living in Uganda . At least 25.000 Rwandan refugees are believed to be living in different UNHCR camps in Uganda and others are in different Ugandan cities and districts, sometimes without any national or international assistance.
The UDF-Inkingi urges the Ugandan government not to be pressured by the RPF government propaganda depicting the situation prevailing in the country as “peaceful” and indeed UDF-Inkingi would like to bring to the attention of the Ugandan authorities, the silent but large scale war against a major section of the Rwandan society, presently going on inside Rwanda .
The manifestations of this war are subtle but real. Among them are impunity assured to mass killings suspects within the RPF government both civil and military, assassinations, disappearances, ethnic discrimination, political and social exclusion, judicial harassments by the so-called “Gacaca” traditional courts, serious and daily violations, with impunity, of property laws, the right to private property including the right to run businesses freely, insecurity of land tenure, ethnocentric nature and operations of the military, police and intelligence bodies and last but not least, recruitment and deployment of 1994 genocide convicts as special squads infiltrated in neighboring countries with the aim of creating chaos and insecurity, a situation planned to be used as justifications of planned forced repatriations or planned armed attacks against those countries. Some of these squads were used recently to attack Basongora pastoralists in North-Western Uganda. The purpose of those attacks was to mislead Ugandan authorities and to have them putting the blame on Rwandan refugees justifying their forced repatriation.
The UDF-Inkingi recalls that these are the real reasons pushing Rwandans of all ethnic and social backgrounds to flee their country and preventing them from going back home. The UDF-Inkingi urges the Ugandan government to resist the RPF government malicious and false propaganda aimed at having all Rwandan refugees forcibly deported. The UDF-Inkingi recalls that the RPF government objective remains repatriation of Rwandans at any human cost as part of its pre-emptive war designed to prevent any supposed change of government which could be supported by Rwandans living out of its control.
The UDF-Inkingi warns all concerned authorities on the threat posed by this kind of attitude towards the Rwandan unarmed refugee civilians on the prospect that it could be counterproductive and instead leads to unintended consequences of more insecurity in the region, more turmoil, and more humanitarian crisis.
Zevenhuizen, 10 October 2007
Mrs. Victoire INGABIRE UMUHOZA
UDF-Inkingi Chairperson
f(Signed)