A Visit to the Bukavu Camps: “We’re Just Normal Refugees, Not Genocidists”

From Goma, I went to Bukavu with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, who was in the region not only to visit the camps but also to attend a refugee conference in Bujumbura, Burundi. The refugees in Bukavu put on a well-organized performance for Mrs. Ogata as you will see as you read this February 1995 report.

Traditional dancers and musicians among the Rwandan refugees at the huge Inera camp outside Bukavu put on a good show when UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata stopped by for a brief visit on the way to the refugee conference in Burundi.

Officials in her entourage agreed the camp leaders put on a good show, too, organizing a display of placards -- in English and French -- with a variety of messages aimed both at Mrs. Ogata and the international community at large.

One insisted, "the author of the genocide does not live here, we are normal refugees." Another proclaimed support for the international tribunal that is to try those accused of last year's massacres.

Yet relief workers at Inera and other camps in the area say it is no secret that former officials of the ousted Hutu-led government as well as soldiers and extremist militia blamed for the slaughter are in the camps. Not only are they in the camps, they control them -- and aid officials say they are using the ordinary refugees as political pawns in an attempt to pressure the new government in Kigali.

One way that is done is by raising the general level of uncertainty among refugees about the fate that awaits them if they go home. Another way is by trying to convince visitors like Mrs. Ogata that the new authorities in Kigali are evil. Both messages were clear in some placards on display.

I dictated to tape some of the inscriptions: “We want to go back to our country but the RPF, the Rwandese Patriotic Front which now controls the government in Kigali, it's alleged on this placard, goes on killing. There's no security, no democracy, no power-sharing. Another one is accusing the RPF of implementing an alleged starvation plan of Hutu refugees by blocking lorries [trucks] transporting their food.”

For her part, Mrs. Ogata told the crowd the United Nations wants them to go home as soon as the security situation allows. She did not say whether she thought that was now the case.

But in a later exchange with reporters, she said it was her impression that the security situation in Rwanda has improved considerably -- and she made clear her belief that the security problem is in the camps themselves, camps which she stressed could only be a temporary solution.

“Repatriation is the only viable solution for a refugee outflow of more than two million people. The neighboring countries cannot really sustain them for a long time. So we are trying to do everything to remove any kind of problems that hinder their return. In this sense, the question of security in the camps has been an important one because there have been many cases of harassment, intimidation for those who want to go back. We would like to remove at least that factor. And in this sense the United Nations has been trying very hard to bring in some forces to maintain law and order.”

Those forces, 15 hundred Zairean soldiers, are to begin patrolling the camps on an around-the-clock basis this month. Camp leaders have already expressed concern about their mission. Mrs. Ogata said they will not try to separate extremists from innocent refugees, but other officials said the soldiers will take a tough line with anyone who gets out of line, suggesting some separation could take place.

Beyond that, UN officials indicate they may have to fall back on another ploy later this year to promote mass repatriation. That ploy would be an announcement that camps adjacent to the Rwandan border will be closed -- and that anyone staying behind will be shifted much further inland into Zaire where they will have to grow their own food. Few refugees seem to relish the prospect of a move in that direction.