Report of Dialogue on the fate of Refugees in Rwanda who are believed to be Congolese

Report on the Google meeting on the fate of 80,000 refugees in Rwanda who are supposed to be sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo

As reminder, we are currently organizing two different meetings on the situation of refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo each week. The first one is every Monday and it is in French bringing together Congolese and the second is every Thursday in English focusing on the broader audience.

Yesterday Monday November 10^th, 2025 the meeting focused on the situation of 80,000 refugees in Rwanda who Rwanda claimed they are Congolese. However there are questions about the identity of these refugees and many people in DRC suspect Rwanda to targeting the implantation on a new population in the Eastern DRCongo.

As a reminder again, people in DRC in general and in Eastern DRC in particular are organized and have as origin from their Tribes, ethnic groups and ownership of land which is called chiefdoms (the composition of a King, his land and his people) so each King has a name and the name of his Kingdom and the mane of the tribe in his Kingdom.

It is on this back ground that it is evident that some people in various refugee Camps in Rwanda are exactly Congolese from tribes and Kingdoms in the East, especially the Bantu. However skepticism is based on Tutsi who claim to be Congolese.

As we discussed last week, Tutsi are being accused of having faked historic facts in order to advance a political agenda in DRC, and Congolese are saying that we must come back to the lines of truth. Tutsi who came as migrants and as refugees did not own land and are not associated to the tribes of DRC because they also do not have a King, they do not have a Kingdom. An in the process many did not acquire the Congolese citizenship up to now, yet they claim to be Congolese. In 1994 a big of these Tutsi returned back to Rwanda by themselves and this continued, but also the wars of 1996 and 1998 forced other Tutsi to go back to Rwanda their country of origin. Many were put into refugee camps where they staying up to now, and in this claiming they want to come back to DRC. Their places they occupied in DRC were land freely given to them by the local communities in order to help them to settle, the Tutsi used only the land but they did not own the land. Currently the local communities are not willing anymore to offer once again their land to the Tutsi especially those who will be repatriated from Rwanda and who have no clear identity.

The meeting yesterday observed that no one is opposed to the return of Congolese people who are in Rwanda but questions remain why these Congolese do not come back on their own? Who refused them to come back? And why do they need the support from President Paul Kagame who became their spokesperson?

Those who will be willing to return in this arrangement Rwanda wants, should be identified one by one and the following information should be captured and well verified to the satisfaction of everybody. The village of origin, the local and cultural leader, the Kingdom of origin, the very home place in that village, the clan in that village, and the relatives. Those who do not want to go back to their villages and opt for other places should also pass through this same way, and once they are verified as Congolese then they can settle where they want.

The meeting was concerned about the silence of UNHCR and the lack of clear information about these refugees, especially that in Rwanda they are not allowed to interact with their fellow Congolese in DRC. Recently the UNHCR Boss encouraged the DRC leadership in Kinshasa not to use refugees for political agenda but the same UNHCR Boss has never told the Rwanda President not to use refugees for political gain.

Much as UNHCR may be a partner in refugee issues in the Great Lakes Region but participants showed reservation on the degree of trust they can accord to UNHCR which is perceived as highly political in this region and seems to be close to Rwanda if not becoming a mere implementing agency of Rwanda Foreign Affairs Policy on refugees.

Questions again without answers yet focused on the selection of only Refugee in Rwanda in order to be repatriated, as participants observed that there are also Tutsi Refugees in Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Tanzania who came from DRC, and yet Rwanda does not speak about those one, similarly DRC has so many refugees in various countries why should the country only focus on those in Rwanda.

In the same way, the Democratic Republic of Congo has not yet communicated enough about these refugees in Rwanda and DRC Government seems to be weak in order to engage Rwanda on a holistic refugee approach.

The meeting encouraged those in Rwanda who want to come back especially the Bantu who are well identified to come back and settle in their villages, especially that Rwanda is not far from DRC. The meeting also encouraged the DRC Minister of Foreign Affairs to put in place strategies to interact with Congolese Refugees in Various Country through the Diaspora representations.

The Meeting also encouraged all parties mainly Rwanda, DRC, UNHCR and refugees in Rwanda to provide more information to the public so that those following up the issue may be fully informed. The DRC Government should be careful on this issue and should involve all stakeholders at all levels and fully communicate on this question in order to avoid deadly conflict.

The actors of Civil Society should be supported and allowed by the Government of Rwanda to visit these refugees in Camps and share information to the rest of Congolese people who are in DRC.