My Africa Today

The Rwandan government is in final preparations to receive about 60,000 Rwandans who will return from Tanzania next year due to the East African country’s crackdown on illegal immigrants in its territory. Foreign Minister Dr Charles Murigande said an agreement had been reached between the two countries to finalise the process by the end of next year. “We have been holding meetings with our Tanzanian counterparts over the issue of illegal Rwandan settlers living in their territory, and very soon an estimated 60,000 refugees will be repatriated,” the minister told The New Times on Wednesday.

He said many of those to be repatriated are pastoralists living in Karagwe District.

A couple of months ago, Tanzania expelled an estimated 3,000 Rwandans who allegedly had no rights to live in the vast East African nation.

Murigande said representatives of both governments held comprehensive discussions on the matter last June in Kigali, after which it was decided that the repatriation process would be finalised in September 2007.

The minister said that the Kigali administration had already sent a delegation to sensitise the Rwandans about the impending repatriation.

He said the delegation scouted different parts of Tanzania that are occupied by Rwandan refugees, particularly Karagwe District for 15 days, urging them to return home voluntarily.

Most of these refugees are opposed to the move because the areas they currently occupy are vast enough for their animals to graze, a drastic difference from the situation in Rwanda.

Murigande said both governments had agreed to let the process take that long, because of other activities involved. Such activities involve mass vaccination of the refugees’ animals against cattle diseases.

Over the past few years the government stepped up efforts against cattle diseases such as foot and mouth, with serious restrictions for the entry of cattle and dairy products into the country.

Without delving into the details, the minister said an inter-ministerial committee between the ministries of Infrastructure, Education, and Lands and Environment has already decided on the areas in which to resettle the refugees upon return.

A recent World Food Programme emergency report indicates that the number of expelled Rwandan refugees from Tanzania was soaring each month.

The August 25, 2006 report said that 610 returnees were still accommodated in 171 temporary tent stands, and that 520 had been settled.

Murigande said the expulsions are in no way related to the relations between the two countries. Tanzania had the right to expel illegal immigrants.

“Tanzania claims that there are people who have been living on her territory illegally and they have decided to send them away. So, as a sovereign state, this decision cannot be overlooked,” he said.


He however could not rule out a possibility of some opportunists using the situation to distabilise legal settlers, and robbing them of their property.

The majority of the expelled Rwandans say their cattle and other assets were confiscated from them by Tanzanians during the process.

The two governments set up a joint team to study the returnees’ complaints and a report is yet to be released.