Brief Report of Thursday Dialogue on the situation of 80,000 refugees in Rwanda claimed to be Congolese

Report on our dialogue of Thursday November 13^th, 2025 about the fate of the 80,000 refugees in Rwanda who are believed to be Congolese

As usual, every Thursday we have made it a practice to share knowledge with the rest of the world about the situation of refugees in the Great Lakes in General and in the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular. This time the topic was on 80,000 refugees in camps in Rwanda, according to Rwanda these are Congolese refugees, but according to DRC Government and the Congolese people most of those in Rwanda are not yet known.

We believe that these meetings will bring people together, help actors to connect, and contribute towards peace in the region and in DRC. These meetings aim at sharing accurate information and mitigating negative perception, stereotypes and myths.

We appreciated participants who have worked with UNHCR in DRC who gave their views on this issue. The introduction started from various questions: Who are these 80,000 in terms of tribe and ethnic belonging, where do they came from in terms of villages in DRC, why do they not want to go back to their villages on their own ways, why should Rwanda make them one among the causes of the war against DRC, and which other solutions available in Rwanda.

The meeting looked at the history and realized that a big number of those in Rwanda are Tutsi who were refugees and migrants in Eastern DRCongo, but because of various wars of aggression by Rwanda since 1996 up to date, they went back to Rwanda and now they were put into Camps. They constitute that very category of people from Rwanda who do not own land in Eastern DRC and who are very much supported by Rwanda in order to use force and get land in order to present a political force in the country.

The majority among the 80,000 people came from Masisi, Nyiragongo, Rutshuru, Mwenga, Fizi and Uvira Territories and they want to be repatriated back in these very territories. The challenge is the host communities who gave them land in these territories are currently opposed to their return on ground that they no longer have land for them and no one is currently willing to offer them a land due to many reasons. Rwanda has tried to massacre people in these territories in order to create free spaces for those people in vain. Over the years Rwanda has been using them for various wars in DRC in exchange for Rwanda support in order to get a land in DRC. This is why they are not able to go back to their villages on their own.

Rwanda has option for local integration for them as currently Rwanda is willing to receive asylum seekers and refugees from other countries, and Rwanda is willing to receive its own people who are refugees in so many other countries, taking into account that 80,000 people are exactly identified as originated from Rwanda, have the very same language and culture and they are in good relationship with the current Rwanda Government, there are better solutions for local integration in Rwanda and that should have been the best way in order to avoid tensions. In the other way around, sending 80,000 people in Eastern DRC who do not speak the language, they do not know the culture and have nothing in common with the host communities may expose them to risks.  

The meeting was preoccupied by the culture of silence from UNHCR in the politicization of refugees in the great lakes region since 1986 when President Museveni took power in Uganda. Refugee camps in this region are considered as mere military recruitment reserves.

The following points were suggested

To empower refugee in Rwanda economically so that each one may on his/her own way repatriate back to DRC calmly without noise up to his/her village or in other part of the country,

To call upon the United Nations and other actors to ban the use of refugees into politics in the Great Lakes Region,

To prioritize local integration and resettlement of these refugees as one among the best options, and to encourage more search work in order to bring the truth to public so that we mitigate wrong information,

To work hard with Congolese local communities and issues around pacific cohabitation, the protection of refugees and engage the DRC Government about the protection of refugees in DRC,

However we should put in mind that it may not be the right now to talk about the repatriation of refugees back to DRC especially those in Rwanda because of the tensions and because of the history of Rwanda in Eastern DRC.

Organizations working in Rwanda together with UNHCR and her partners should engage Rwanda to reduce their public media campaigns focusing on these refugees and promote refugees to speak by themselves, and at the same time to invest more in livelihood activities.

We are willing to play a role in terms of exchange and putting in place cross-border activities and interactions between Congolese people in these refugees in Rwanda once the authorities grant the necessary security and support. We believe that creating opportunities for people to sit together and discuss is the best approach.

There is a great and urgent need to invest in research work focusing on people and movements of people in the Great Lakes Region in general and in DRC in particular, there is a urgent need to focus a research on refugees in DRC in order to bring knowledge which will help actors to make informed decisions, as accurate information will contribute towards peace.