It was around 1:25 am, in the wee hours of Monday, January 27, when the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator to Rwanda, Ozonnia Ojielo, received an official letter from his counterpart in DR Congo, formally requesting that his team be given safe passage through Rwanda. The plea for relocation, which came amidst intensified fighting between the AFC/M23 rebels and the Congolese government forces (FARDC), would then be sent to the Rwandan authorities for approval. ALSO READ: Panic spreads in Goma as M23 rebels threaten to march What followed was a chain of events that involved instant approval from the Rwandan government, courtesy of which thousands of UN staff, and other humanitarian workers were relocated to Kigali through the border district of Rubavu in western Rwanda. ALSO READ: DR Congo: 2,000 UN staff, aid workers given safe passage through Rwanda “They sent me an official request. I received that official request at 1:25 AM on Monday morning. I had been in previous consultations with the government that this might come,” Ojielo told The New Times in an exclusive interview. He added; “So the moment came within 25 minutes, I got approval from the government of Rwanda. The government said yes, they are staff of the UN. They are welcome to come pass through us. Tell us what they need. We have all our people present to support the effort.” A few hours later, around 6:00 am when the UN Representative to Rwanda arrived at the border, he said; “there was full presence of institutions from the police, immigration, government officials at the border” waiting to receive and process the hundreds of people, most of them employed by the UN in Goma. ALSO READ: Rwanda condemns ‘misguided, manipulative’ statements on DR Congo crisis “By the time I arrived in Rubavu that morning, all the government presence was there already. They had processed people in 10 buses that already had left for Kigali. Around that time 700 people had already left for Kigali. And then throughout the day, they kept processing people with a full accompaniment of security convoys to Kigali.” At the Kigali Pele Stadium where at least 1800 UN Staff and dependants were processed on Monday, Ojielo said that Rwandan authorities were still coordinating the exercise. “The Rwanda Convention Bureau (RCB) was there as well making arrangements with hotels. Then we had several UN staff, UN Rwandan citizens who volunteered as part of the UN system in Rwanda to support our fellow Congolese UN staff members who were working with government institutions to make this exercise as seamless as possible.” A significant number of the group had pre-existing medical conditions, including pregnant mothers, young children as well as “men in clutches”, according to Ojielo. “Usually every conflict situation is traumatizing for children and you wish that doesn't happen. But from a UN perspective, UN staff and dependents, no matter the condition of the dependents, we must look after the staff. The institutions of the government of Rwanda were very efficient. They were very effective. They moved them in.” Kigali only possible route According to Ojielo, the UN protocols in a conflict context where the evolution and escalation of the conflict prevent its staff from doing their normal day-to-day job allow for either evacuation or relocation. Relocation, he explained, is for staff of the UN who are citizens of the country where the conflict is taking place. ALSO READ: Kinshasa could have avoided current crisis, says Rwanda envoy “And so you had to take them by road to another part of the country, in which case the road networks were no longer possible, air transport was not possible and so was the sea transport.” He explained; “So it meant that the only safe option was overland to the border with Rwanda” “So the first thing for me to say is that the United Nations system, the country team in Rwanda, is deeply grateful to the government of Rwanda and its institutions for the rapidity of the decision because things like that are matters of life and death.” “But the expansiveness of the presence of Rwandan authorities is extremely impressive. There was no Government of Rwanda institution that was needed and that was not present there.” When pressed for details, he said; “I don't want to speak more in detail, but the government has been very, very constructive in finding a workable solution that recognizes the situation in which they are.” According to Ojielo, the Congolese government is conducting an exercise in which the group will gradually be transferred back to Kinshasa. Relief as individuals arrive More than 2,000 United Nations staff members who fled to Rwanda are now awaiting flights to Kinshasa. These individuals have been accommodated in 38 hotels and apartments around Kigali. ALSO READ: Holocaust: Minister Bizimana calls out UN on failures to address Genocide ideologies, perpetrators In separate interviews with The New Times, the UN staff shared their emotional experiences. One staff member arrived with her three children—aged 7, 4, and 2—and described the trauma they endured. Although she felt a sense of safety upon reaching Kigali, her children remained deeply affected by the experience. “Hearing gunfire in Goma is something you get used to and know how to protect your children from,” she said. “But after crossing the border, we thought it was over. Then we had to witness gunfire between Rwanda and Congo. My children were terrified. I truly believe my children are still traumatized.” Despite the emotional scars, the woman expressed gratitude for the way they were welcomed upon arrival. “It feels as though they understand what we’ve been through. The reception has been calm and welcoming.” Another UN staff member shared similar sentiments, although he raised concerns about the lack of access to his luggage. “I appreciate the warm welcome from the Rwandan government,” he said. “However, I still haven’t had access to my luggage. I left important medications in there, and I’m unsure when we’ll be leaving for Kinshasa.” Across the different accommodations, staff members are receiving support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The M23 rebels, who have been fighting the Congolese army since late 2021, dealt huge blows to the government last week, with the killing of North Kivu Province’s Military Governor Peter Cirimwami and the capture of new territory. In recent weeks, the M23 captured the towns of Minova, in South Kivu, and Masisi, in North Kivu, ahead of taking the city of Goma last night. The rebels demand direct peace talks with the Congolese government, which has ruled out any possibility of talks with the rebels, accusing them of being a terrorist movement. Regional initiatives have failed to end the war politically, with the Congolese government pursuing a military solution.
