A total of 47 Burundian families comprising 74 people on Thursday March 12, voluntarily returned to their home country from Rwanda.

The group included 62 refugees from Mahama Camp in Kirehe District and 12 from the City of Kigali. They returned to Burundi through Nemba border post in Bugesera District, under an ongoing repatriation programme supported by the government of Rwanda and partners.

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The latest movement marks the 68th repatriation since 2020, during which, a total of more than 31,000 Burundian refugees have returned home.

According to Gonzague Karagire, Refugee Programme Manager at the Ministry in charge of Emergency Management (MINEMA), the programme is strictly voluntary and organised for refugees who register and request to return.

"After they register, we coordinate with their country of origin to agree on when they will receive them, and then we facilitate the return,” he said.

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Karagire noted that Rwanda works closely with the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to ensure that returnees reintegrate smoothly once back home.

Among the returnees was Oda Maria, who spent 11 years in Mahama Camp before deciding to go back.

"I felt the time had come to return home,” she said, noting that seeing other refugees successfully reintegrate in Burundi encouraged her to make the decision.

Another returnee, Jérémy Havugiyaremye, who has lived in Rwanda for 25 years, said he chose to return because he missed his country.

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Jeanette Mukandera, who spent 21 years in Rwanda, expressed gratitude to the country for hosting refugees with dignity.

"We lived peacefully with Rwandans without any problems. We received food, shelter and healthcare, and no one mistreated us because we were refugees,” she said.

Rwanda currently hosts more than 53,000 Burundian refugees, living in Mahama Camp and urban areas across the country.