Concerns about shelter as Congolese refugees arrive in Rwanda

News Stories, 7 May 2012

© UNHCR/A.Bronee
Congolese refugees arrive at the Nkamira Transit Centre in Rwanda.

NKAMIRA TRANSIT CENTRE, Rwanda, May 7 (UNHCR) – Teenager Arsène is all alone in Rwanda; he was separated from his family in the rush to flee fighting between government forces and renegade troops in eastern Congo.

"When the soldiers started to shoot, I ran. I thought my family was following," the 15-year-old told UNHCR after arriving at the Nkamira Transit Centre. He was one of more than 6,200 people to flee to Rwanda from Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province since April 27.

Most are women, children and the elderly coming from North Kivu's Masisi and Walikale territories, where the fighting between government forces and soldiers loyal to former rebel commander Bosco Ntaganda also left almost 20,000 people internally displaced. News reports on Sunday said the army had ended its operations against mutinous troops.

Arsène said the fighting was chaotic, and civilians were caught in the crossfire. "I first heard gunshots, then I saw soldiers coming from behind a hill. One soldier was shot in the head. I do not know which side he was fighting for, all soldiers were wearing the same uniform," he recalled.

"I fled only with the clothes on my back," said Arsène, who was wearing his white school shirt under a dark blue sweater. "I am in Rwanda, but I am alone now," the boy said, his voice growing soft.

Sarah's family were also separated in the flight to Rwanda from their village in Masisi territory, which lies to the west of the North Kivu capital, Goma. She was working in the fields when the conflict swept into their area.

"Suddenly, our neighbours came rushing by, screaming. They said there was fighting in the area, so I hurried home. Two of my children were gone, I don't know where they ran. I took my [other five] children, I took a few kilos of beans, and I ran," the 40-year-old widow said, with a resigned look.

People have become almost inured to the cycle of violence in eastern Congo, and many have been displaced several times. Others resting in the massive warehouse tents (rubb halls) in Nkamira have similar tales to Sarah. But she also remained hopeful, purtting her faith in the ability of UNHCR and its partners to help find her missing two children.

This latest influx of people from North Kivu has put great strain on the Nkamira Transit Centre, which was visited on Sunday by officials from North Kivu, including Governor Julien Paluku Kahongya, who thanked Rwanda for hosting the refugees and said he hoped they could all go home soon.

After crossing into Rwanda at the border town of Gisenyi, the new arrivals have been transported by UNHCR and its partners to the Nkamira Transit Centre, 22 kilometres to the east. They are provided with food and items such as plastic mats, jerry cans, and crockery, but shelter is a major concern because the transit centre was only built to accommodate 2,600 people. With the urgent rehabilitation of 19 old rubb hall tents and the construction of 13 new ones, the capacity will be increased to 5,400.

Meanwhile, the government of Rwanda, UNHCR and many of its partners have worked tirelessly to provide clean water, sanitation facilities and basic health services. But if people continue arriving at a high rate, there will soon be critical gaps in humanitarian assistance.

Liz Ahua, deputy director of UNHCR's Africa Bureau, warned that "a new site will have to be found if more refugees continue to arrive on a daily basis."The rate of arrival has fallen since last week, but almost 400 entered Rwanda on Sunday.

While the UN refugee agency is discussing longer-term solutions with the Rwandan government, urgent donor support is needed in the short term. Rwanda is already hosting some 55,000 Congolese refugees who live in three already crowded camps across the country.

In recent years, the Nkamira Centre has hosted Rwandans as they returned to their home country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They stayed here for one or two days before being transported to their villages of origin by UNHCR.

By Anouck Bronée in Nkamira Transit Centre, Rwanda.

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International Women's Day 2013

Gender equality remains a distant goal for many women and girls around the world, particularly those who are forcibly displaced or stateless. Multiple forms of discrimination hamper their enjoyment of basic rights: sexual and gender-based violence persists in brutal forms, girls and women struggle to access education and livelihoods opportunities, and women's voices are often powerless to influence decisions that affect their lives. Displaced women often end up alone, or as single parents, battling to make ends meet. Girls who become separated or lose their families during conflict are especially vulnerable to abuse.

On International Women's Day, UNHCR reaffirms its commitment to fight for women's empowerment and gender equality. In all regions of the world we are working to support refugee women's participation and leadership in camp committees and community structures, so they can assume greater control over their lives. We have also intensified our efforts to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, with a focus on emergencies, including by improving access to justice for survivors. Significantly, we are increasingly working with men and boys, in addition to women and girls, to bring an end to dangerous cycles of violence and promote gender equality.

These photographs pay tribute to forcibly displaced women and girls around the world. They include images of women and girls from some of today's major displacement crises, including Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Sudan.

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Congolese in Uganda: from flight to settlement

After three years of relative peace, waves of combat erupted again in Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province in April 2012, causing major population displacement. Fighting in North Kivu's Rutshuru territory between government forces and rebel fighters from the M23 movement caused tens of thousands of Congolese civilians to seek shelter across the border in Uganda, mainly in the Kisoro district. Many joined UNHCR-organized convoys to the settlement of Rwamwanja, which was opened last April to deal with the influx. By the end of 2012, the settlement was hosting more than 30,000 refugees. Each refugee family is given a plot of land on which to construct a home and plant crops and encouraged to become self-sufficient. UNHCR wants to urgently improve infrastructure at the settlement and has appealed for supplementary funding.

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Rwanda's Kiziba Camp was opened in December 1996, after the start of civil war in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The facility was constructed to help cope with the influx of tens of thousands of Congolese refugees at that time. Some of the refugees have since returned to their homes in eastern DRC, but about 16,000 remain at the remote hilltop camp located in the Western province of Rwanda. Fresh violence last year in DRC's North Kivu province did not affect the camp because new arrivals were accommodated in the reopened Kigeme Camp in Rwanda's Southern province. Most of the refugees in Kiziba have said they do not want to return, but the prospects of local integration is limited by factors such as a lack of land and limited access to employment. In the meantime, people try to lead as normal a life as possible, learning new skills and running small businesses to help them become self-sufficient. For the youth, access to sports and education is very important to ensure that they do not become sidetracked by negative influences as well as to keep up their spirits and hopes for the future.

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