The Head of the National Refugee Commission in Rwanda, Innocent Ngango, has revealed that 20,000 refugees living in the country will receive identity cards this month.

Ngango noted that it is every refugee’s right to acquire identification, adding that the cards will be electronic just like, the national IDs.

"Tomorrow we will meet with the stakeholders to set a date for the launch since everything is set,” he said.

The Coordinator of the National ID project, Pascal Nyamurinda, also added that the first stage of production is complete and what is required now is authorization to distribute the cards.

According to Ngango, most of the refugees living in the country are from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We believe that these documents will facilitate their movement in the country and general access to other rights that necessitate identification, for example bank services,” Ngango recently explained.

Officials say that the UNHCR is also supporting this cause and add that this move will equally help strengthen the government’s institutional capacity, in terms of the overall management of refugees and asylum seekers.

Figures from the agency indicate that the cards will cost $104,190 (Rwf59.4 million).

Meanwhile, the national ID Project is set to upgrade its equipment in a bid to start the production process of the national smart cards.

According to Nyamurinda, there is need for other special printers for the smart card chip as well as additional memory equipment.

"We are moving as planned and we already have the production system in place. It is just a matter of upgrading particular equipment. This will be done next month, as well as training personnel that will assist in the production process.”

The official added that the new card will have identity details of the holder, driving permit details as well as passport information.

"Users will be able to access various services by the use of just one card. After the launch of this system we hope to carry out more consultations in a bid to add other services like RAMA, banking and social security among others,” Nyamurinda explained.

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