The Community of Rwandese Refugees in Zambia
Lusaka, Zambia
12.28.02
The Representative of UNHCR
P.O.Box 32542
LUSAKA-ZAMBIA
Dear Sir,
We, the Rwandese Refugees Community in Zambia, are deeply concerned by the recent development brought up in the News papers, in which the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs is confirming that war has ended in Rwanda, so no reason of keeping Rwandese refugees in Zambia. The modalities of discussion and preparing the repatriation of Rwandese refugees in Zambia must be initiated according to the request submitted by the Government of Rwanda.
References made to:
1. Zambia daily mail of Saturday 21st, December 2002.
2. Times of Zambia of 23rd, December 2002.
3. Statements reported by Radio Phoenix.
Dear Sir, we wish to inform you that the war was not the only reason why the Rwandese refugees are found here in Zambia. From 1994 to date, Rwandese refugees have remained in exile in Zambia and in many other countries in the world, and so many others have been joining them in exile, mainly because of the persistent violations of human rights by the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) undemocratic regime in Rwanda. The clear example supporting this, is that up to now Zambia and other countries continue to receive day after day new asylum seekers direct from Rwanda. The reasons to this situation are the following:
1. Violations of human rights have never stopped since the Rwandese Patriotic Front -RPF- (minority Tutsi) Government is on power:
- Physical elimination of innocent people because of their ethnic group or their opinions.
- Selective arrests and imprisonment with no trial mainly directed to educated Hutu and Tutsi who disagree with their politics of ethnic discrimination and domination of one man.
- Prisons are congested by untrialed people for more than 8 years (200.000 persons suspected of having participated in genocide are yet to see justice). This number always increases whenever there is repatriation.
- People in Rwanda continues to be victimized because of their properties illegally occupied by the dignitary of the regime and their relatives, many still remain homeless.
- Continuous racial persecution of Hutu and Tutsi opposed to the Rwandese Government up to follow them and eliminate them in their country of asylum.
2. The repatriation is a way to the Rwandese Government to recruit by force the young people into the army and thereafter, to go to sustain the invasive war to the neighboring countries like DRC.
3. The main leaders Hutu and Tutsi have been isolated by the RPF (Rwandese Patriotic Front, the ruling party). Some have been arrested and still in prisons (Former President of Rwanda Pasteur Bizimungu and some ministers) and others have been forced to exile. We shall mention the case of the former Home Affairs Minister Seth Sendashonga assassinated by the death squad of RPF in Nairobi- Kenya in 1998; The formers Prime Ministers: Rwigema Celestin and Faustin Twagiramungu who worked with the RPF for so many years and were treated at last as Interahamwe. People like, Joseph Sebarenzi former speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Mugabe, journalist, former secret agent to RPF, Deo Mushaidi, journalist, former Chairman of the journalists association, and so many intellectuals Hutu and Tutsi have been forced to exile.
So many people have been victim of the brutality of the RPF/ General Kagame military regime. You would please found different reports of human rights organization like human rights watch and amnesty international since 1994.
You may be aware Sir, that the regime in place in Kigali is diabolizing all Hutu leaders and potentials (all educated Hutu intellectuals) qualifying them as Interahamwe in order to exclude them from participating in the governance of their nation and thus maintain the rule of a tutsi oligarchy in Rwanda. Those who remained in the country have been killed or imprisoned or forced to work for RPF to save their lives. For those who are in exile, they have intensified both diplomatic and intelligence activities in order to bring Governments, especially those of the Great lake region, to force them back home where their will be secretly eliminated. If you have any doubt about this Sir, we may even make available to you lists of Hutu intellectuals who have been killed or imprisoned after force repatriation from Tanzania and DRC.
You are certainly aware Sir, that many of those who were repatriated by force from Congo DR last month have been tortured and are up to now rotting in prison without judgement. Are you aware Sir, that even some of those who went to Rwanda in the so-called national reconciliation forum ,last oct. 2002, have been killed?
In this context, Sir, what guarantee can UNHCR give us about our security before organizing our repatriation? We are so grateful to Zambia for the sympathy and the hospitality shown to us by the people of this great nation. However our opinion is that time for our repatriation has not yet arrived in view of the problems mentioned above. As Zambia has expressed its concern and problems about continuing keeping refugees, it will be fair if this country becomes unable to keep the Rwandese refugees that UNHCR organized a resettlement in another country for those whose security can not be guaranteed if repatriated. We are not against repatriation for there is no place better than home. All that we are asking for is that no refugee should be repatriated by force. The United Nations and OAU conventions about refugee's status, 1951 and 1969 respectively, the 1967 protocol to which ZAMBIA is signatory, should be respected.
The following conditions should be considered if any repatriation is taking place:
a) Repatriation must be on voluntary basis.
b) Refugees should be well informed and must participate in the preparations.
c) The representation of the refugee community must be a committee genuinely elected by the refugees themselves.
We humbly appreciate all the efforts that have been made by the UNHCR, Governments and international human rights organizations to protect the rights of the refugees in general and the Rwandese refugees in particular. However, for so many instances governments and individuals have violated these rights without much reaction from the international community.
We wonder when governments and the international community in general are going to realise that the government of Kigali is using them to eliminate all those the Government of Kigali considers as a threat to their power, using the impression left in the world by the "genocide" of 1994.
We sincerely hope that this time, the world is not going to allow that innocent people be victimized once more, and that UNHCR and the international community to whom we are appealing now, will protect our rights.
Yours faithfully,
THE COMMUNITY OF RWANDESE REFUGEES IN ZAMBIA.
Under signed:
c.c. Minister of Home Affairs,
LUSAKA- ZAMBIA.
c.c. Commissioner for Refugee,
Ministry of Home Affairs,
LUSAKA- ZAMBIA.
c.c. UNHCR- GENEVE.
c.c. Zambia Episcopal Conference,
LUSAKA- ZAMBIA.
c.c. Commissioner for human right in Zambia,
LUSAKA- ZAMBIA.
c.c. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zambia,
LUSAKA- ZAMBIA.
c.c. The Legal Resources Foundation in Zambia in Zambia (LRF),
LUSAKA.
c.c. Oasis Forum,
Lusaka- Zambia.
c.c. The Amnesty International
c.c. The Human Right Watch
c.c. Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), LUSAKA
c.c. Africare , LUSAKA.
c.c. Lutheran World federation- Zambian Christian Refugee Service
LUSAKA.
c.c. Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), LUSAKA .
c.c. Japanese Association to Aid Refugees, LUSAKA.