Cablegate: Rwanda: Unhcr Sees Increased Population Movement

VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLGB #0763 3031607
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291607Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5720
INFO RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0329
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0428
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 1240
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2015
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0567
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0342
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1347
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0601

UNCLAS KIGALI 000763

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF RW
SUBJECT: RWANDA: UNHCR SEES INCREASED POPULATION MOVEMENT
FROM DRC, PREPARES FOR MORE

1. (SBU) Officials from the United Nations High Commission on
Refugees (UNHCR) in Kigali told poloffs October 29 that since
the morning of October 28 some 1200 individuals had crossed
from North Kivu into Rwanda near Gisenyi, and that more were
amassing on the border. The individuals had declined to
register at the Nkamira Refugee Transit Center located
outside Gisenyi, opting instead opted to stay on the grounds
of a school compound in Gisenyi town. According to UNHCR,
the individuals were waiting to see the outcome of the
fighting, and hoped to return to their homes, rather than
seek refugee status in Rwanda or enter Internally Displaced
Persons (IDP) camps in the DRC.

2. (SBU) UNHCR has contingency plans to accommodate large
numbers of refugees from the conflict should the need arise,
and is readying food and emergency health and hygiene kits in
its two transit camps, Nkamira and Nyagatare (in Gisenyi and
Cyangugu, respectively). Each has adequate water supplies.
Following recent operations to transfer persons from the two
transit camps to refugee camps farther inside Rwanda, each
camp is currently empty, and could hold up to 5,000 persons.
Nyabiheke camp in the Eastern Province is undergoing
expansion, and could be used for any overflow, but UNHCR
prefers for the moment not to transfer any persons there
until the completion of an on-going "verification" of the
camp's residents. UNHCR officials based in Kigali report
difficulty obtaining up-to-date information, and will travel
to Gisenyi October 30 to observe the situation for themselves.

SYMINGTON

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