We are coping with refugee situation ‑ Gatsinzi

The recent flare up in fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has led to a refugee situation in western province with many people fleeing eastern DR Congo. The Sunday Times’ Eric Kabera, spoke to Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi, Minister for Disaster Management and refugees on the situation.Minister, how is your Ministry coping with the influx of refugees from the eastern DR CongoOur Ministry is coping considerably well with the situation despite the increasing number of refugees coming into the country. Having said that, our success in this mission is highly dependent on the continued collaboration of all our national and international partners.Upon instruction from the Prime Minister’s office, MIDIMAR has been coordinating all efforts and activities, both at the Border and in Nkamira Transit Centre. A high level technical steering committee meeting chaired by the Permanent Secretary of MIDIMAR Mr. Antoine Ruvebana, was put in place to be permanently deployed at the field whenever need arises. It is also composed of representatives from public institutions, including MINADEF, MININTER, MINISANTE, MINALOC, MIDIMAR, Red Cross, as well as our UN Partners. The Steering Committee is charged with receiving and assisting incoming refugees on a 24 hours basis. The partner institutions represented in this committee have been working tirelessly to fulfill their specific missions and with this are managing to keep the situation under control. What other agencies are you working with to meet the needs of the displaced population ?On the national level, we are working with the Ministry of Health, Rwanda National Police, Rwanda Defense Forces, NISS, Rubavu District officials and the Rwanda Red Cross. On the International Level we are working with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Rwanda Red Cross. What are the challenges on the ground for the Government of Rwanda and its partners to provide for this needy group?The challenges on the ground mainly rise from Nkamira Transit Center. As you may or may not know, Nkamira Transit Centre was initially for Rwandan returnees and is intended to accommodate people for a short time period. The incoming Congolese refugees are straining the centre capacity.The Centre was initially designed to hold up to 2600 individuals yet the number of Congolese refugees received so far is nearly 7,000. Upon assessment in the initial stages of the situation, it was discovered that various facilities within the centre needed to either be rehabilitated or expanded on to ensure that all received refugees could be ensured with shelter, food, health facilities if needed, water and security and other basic needs. All this needs to be carried out without infringing upon the needs of our returnees. Another crucial point is that the majority of incoming refugees are women and children, and this often brings about issues including un accompanied children, gender-based violence and other delicate matters that might affect their experience in Rwanda.Finally, the ownership of the Transit Center itself is another serious problem. Initially, Nkamira TC was a Dairy belonging to a private company that had acquired a loan from commercial banks (BRD, FINA BANK and BK), and the company failed to pay back. This new refugee influx actually came in while these banks are in the process of selling the property by auction. This means that, if the problem persists, the GoR may either acquire the property, or find another space to set up a new refugee camp in which these refugees shall be relocated. What steps are being taken to ensure the safe passage home for refugee when the time comes ?What we currently do is to ensure that the refugees are provided with all necessary protection, and safeguard their security, while monitoring the security situation back home so that they can go back. We have also received the Congolese official led by the DRC Eastern Province Governor, Honorable Julien Paluku Kahongya, who assured his compatriots that he would tour all affected areas to assess the security situation there, but cautioned them not to rush to repatriate since the homes were still insecure. We cannot encourage them to go back into war, so we wait.As Minister, are you satisfied with the response to this challenging situation and should Rwandans feel confident in their government’s ability to manage such events in the futureI am incredibly satisfied and proud of the way our government has responded to this situation. With the Prime Minister’s support, MIDIMAR and the UNCHR were able to act quickly and effectively coordinate initiatives needed to keep the situation under control. All the partners involved have been doing a tremendous job and have shown that working diligently as a collective is really the only solution to a challenge of this magnitude and nature.This should definitely reflect to all Rwandans that their Government is more than capable of managing such events, especially with support and collaboration of its stakeholders and development partners.Nkamira transit centre has no capacity to accommodate the entire refugees what plan do you have to solve this processYes, it’s a very big problem and we are have identified a new site in Nyamagabe district site and we have now sent a team of experts to assess the place where we shall construct new tents. We are apparently discussing with our partners like UNHCR to ensure that the Congolese access a better living.How much have you as a ministry injected since these refugees started fleeing in ?We have so far used 85 million Rwandan francs especially in extending the Nkamira transit centre and other related activities like providing health facilities to the refugees and UNHCR is also working tirelessly to support these Congolese and I cannot estimate how much they have used as a UN agency.

We are coping with refugee situation ­‑ Gatsinzi

We are coping with refugee situation ‑ Gatsinzi