At least 100 families of Rwandans evicted from Tanzania have been given temporary shelter in Rwimbogo Sector, Gatsibo District. The evictees, who have been living in Rukara camp in Kayonza District, were resettled on Wednesday. Rwimbogo Sector executive secretary John Mushumba said local leaders mobilised residents to offer basic needs to the evictees pending their permanent resettlement. “These are our brothers and sisters in need of assistance. We have begun by offering them basic needs like shelter, food, clothes, health care and education for their children,” he said. The evictees will be accommodated in Rwikiniro and Munini cells. “We shall continue helping them until they are able to live on their own,” he said. Joseph Rukebesha, an official from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees Affairs (Midmar), hailed Gatsibo residents for helping to resettle the returnees. He pledged government’s continued support to the returnees until they fully reintegrate in the community. “The commitment of residents to help the evictees is unbelievable. They have been doing everything possible including contributing money to help the families,” he said. Meanwhile, the evictees thanked the government for the care it has given them since their arrival. Most of the evictees are from the districts of Bukoba, Muleba, Karagwe, Biharamulo and Ngara in the Akagera region, in Tanzania. Florence Murekatete, 27, a mother of three who lived in Musenyi village, Biharamuro District in Tanzania, reflected on her life in Tanzania with tears. Speaking on behalf of the evictees during the resettlement exercise, she recounted how she was arrested by plain clothes men before being deported to Rwanda. “I can never forget what happened to me a couple of months ago. I was bundled onto a truck and driven up to the border,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks. A total of 14,253 evictees crossed into Rwanda following their controversial expulsion from Tanzania in August 2013. About 8,361 of them have already been reunited with their families in various parts of the country.
