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afrol News, 12 October - Leaders of the last 22,000 Rwandan refugees living in Tanzania are going to Rwanda to see for themselves whether the situation is good enough to return permanently. the UN, Rwandan and Tanzanian authorities are pushing for a voluntary repatriation. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is now making preparations for an advance visit to Rwanda by Rwandan refugee leaders living in camps in western Tanzania ahead of a planned operation to promote the return of the 22,000 Rwandan refugees from Tanzania. The planned visit - "a confidence-building measure" (UNHCR) - is part of an agreement between the governments of Rwanda, Tanzania and UNHCR. Under the terms of the agreement, UNHCR is to encourage Rwandan refugees to return home and expand its ongoing repatriation programme to Rwanda to aid the voluntary return of Rwandan refugees by the end of the year. The Tanzanian Minister for Home Affairs, Mohammed Seif Khatib, on Wednesday in Dar es Salaam said he expected all Rwandan refugees to have left by 31 December this year. "Rwanda is now peaceful and the government has accepted to receive the refugees," the Minister told the press. "It is time for them to go home," he added. Information campaigns and other confidence-building measures were expected to be completed by the end of this month "to pave the way for the start of the expanded repatriation programme by mid-November," UNHCR spokesperson Peter Kessler said at a press briefing in Geneva yesterday. He confirmed that the operation was "slated for completion by the end of the year." But the UN agency urged the repatriation to be voluntary. "Upon their return to the Tanzania camps, refugee leaders will be expected to speak to their refugee compatriots about the situation prevailing inside Rwanda," Mr Kessler said. "At the same time, former refugees, now back in Rwanda, will be invited to camps in western Tanzania to speak to refugees about the situation at home and their reintegration." Alongside the information campaigns, UNHCR was to open up more registration centres in the camps to allow more refugees to sign up for return. Another meeting between the governments of Rwanda, Tanzania and UNHCR was expected to take place in the new year to define the next steps in the event that there are remaining groups of Rwandan refugees in Tanzania. Tanzanian Minister Khatib was clearer on what would happen to Rwandan refugees in Tanzania after 31 December. He told the press that refugees who would refuse to return to Rwanda would "be interrogated and steps taken against them." Tanzania for decades has been host to large number of regional refugees. Many of the current Rwandan refugees in Tanzania arrived the country in 1998 – the first group of Rwandan refugees to be admitted into Tanzania following the mass return of close to 500,000 in December 1996. More than 1,000 Rwandan refugees have arrived so far this year. At the same time, more than 3,000 Rwandan refugees have returned home this year from Tanzania. All together, camps in Tanzania host more than 500,000 refugees, mainly from Burundi and Congo Kinshasa (DRC). Tanzania is currently receiving a new wave of refugees from war-ravaged Burundi. Sources: Based on UNHCR and afrol archives
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