Union of Rwandese Democratic Forces (UFDR) http://www.ufdr.org
Office of the Commissioner for Information and Communication
Postal Box 5352, Station B, Montreal, Canada, H3B 4P1
Press Release nš 8/2002
11.15.02
The Government of Tanzania has set the deadline of December 31 of this year for all 22,000 Rwandan refugees on its territory to leave. While Tanzania host hundred thousands of Burundian and Congolese refugees on its territory, the targeting of Rwandan refugees and discrimination against them is unjustifiable. Most of Rwandan refugees in Tanzania are genuine political refugees fleeing persecution inside Rwanda and fearing persecution on their return home. Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that "everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution." Rwandan political refugees in Tanzania have nowhere else to go. The repatriation program should be voluntary and on individual basis. UFDR calls on the Government of Tanzania to respect the human rights of Rwandan refugees and appeals to all countries of the European Union, Japan, Canada, Australia, USA and other rich countries to provide sufficient aid to Tanzania in order to help it cope with massive influx of refugees from Rwanda, Burundi and DR of Congo.
Burdened by the huge number of refugees from Rwanda, Burundi and DR of Congo, Tanzania has been advocating and pushing for the accommodation of refugees in camps inside their home countries. On its part, the despotic Kagame regime says that Rwanda is now "peaceful", that the returnees have nothing to fear and that all those unwilling to return are fugitives from justice fearing prosecution in Rwanda for their alleged role in the 1994 Tutsi genocide. The dictatorial Rwandan government treats all Rwandan refugees either as war-displaced persons outside their home country or as suspected criminals. In reality, most of Rwandan refugees are genuine political refugees entitled to international protection against persecution from the repressive Kagame regime. The Tanzanian ultimatum came after a repatriation agreement was reached between the Tanzanian Minister for Home Affairs Mohammed Seif Khatib, the Rwandan Minister of State for Social Affairs Odette Nyiramilimo and the UNHCR director of African bureau David Lambo at the 53rd Session of the Executive Committee of the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland, between September 30 and October 4.
Following the Tanzanian ultimatum, some 2,500 Rwandan refugees have fled from camps in western Tanzania over the last two months to the area around Nakivale in southern Uganda. However, on advice of UNHCR, the Ugandan government has stopped recognising Rwandan asylum seekers from Tanzania since they were already accessing UNHCR protection in Tanzania. Instead of defending the interests of Rwandan refugees under its protection, the UNHCR spreads the Rwandan government's lies against them. UFDR denounces and condemns UNHCR's collusion with the Kigali regime in violations of human rights of Rwandan refugees. The people of Rwanda is grateful to the Government and people of Tanzania for their hospitality and all sacrifices to accommodate refugees. However, instead of expelling Rwandan refugees and put them into the hands of their oppressors, the Government of Tanzania can best use its influence to check the greed of power of the current Rwandan autocrats, end their dictatorship and permanent political repression generating flows of refugees.
Done in Montreal on 15 November 2002
Emmanuel Nyemera, Ph.D.
UFDR Spokesman and Commissioner for Information and Communication
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The Union of Rwandan Democratic Forces (UFDR) is a political coalition formed by the Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda (RDR (http://www.rdrwanda.org)) and the Resistance Forces for Democracy (FRD).