The delegation of Burundian officials who are in Rwanda since Monday have encouraged Burundian refugees to return home, saying the country is safer than they left it seven years ago.
The refugees said the first direct engagement since 2015 was 'a step in the right direction.'
The officials, led by Lt Gen of Police Andre Ndayambaje, the Permanent Secretary of Public Security in the Interior Ministry, said they came to Rwanda to "encourage a voluntary repatriation" of the refugees.
"We want to meet all the refugees and tell them the message of the government of Burundi that they should return home and work with their compatriots to build our country," Ndayambaje said.
After a meeting with representatives of the refugees who live in Rwandan cities, Ndayambaje told journalists that they were able to deliver their message and hear the refugees' concerns.
"Some of the concerns are because the refugees do not see the situation on the ground and sometimes they may get misleading information," he said.
In 2015, over 80,000 Burundians fled to Rwanda amid the insecurity that followed an attempted coup.
According to the Ministry of Emergency Management (MINEMA), over 30,000 refugees have returned to Burundi since 2020, at the facilitation the Rwandan government and UN refugee agency. Some 50,000 refugees still live in Rwanda, most of them in the Mahama refugee camp.
"Most of the causes that led to their exile are no longer existent. But not all of them had the same causes. One may feel that their cause of exile remains. We will report the issues so that they can be solved because the repatriation has to be voluntary, and when the returnees are not afraid of anything," Ndayambaje said.
The urban refugees pointed out issues such as reported arrests of some of the returning Burundians, the issue of people whose properties were looted or confiscated during the 2015 unrest.
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However, they said the visit by Burundian government officials was a step in the right direction, adding that President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who went to power in 2020, exhibits will to resolve the issues at hand.
"The new president has the political will to restore normalcy in the country, which can lead to our repatriation," Patrice Ntadohoka, the committee president of urban refugees in Rwanda, said.
"In his speeches in the media and abroad, however, he says that certain people make it difficult for him to make positive changes. Sending a delegation is the first step. There is hope that if this initiative continues, the desired results will be achieved."
On Tuesday, the delegation will meet with the refugees who live in the Mahama camp.
Since 2020, over 200,000 Burundians who fled to different countries in 2015 have returned to the country, according to the country's Director General of Refugee Repatriation and Reintegration.
Phillipe Habinshuti, the Permanent Secretary at MINEMA, said that Rwanda supports Burundi's drive to repatriate refugees.
"Engaging the refugees is a commendable initiative. What makes the refugees return to their country is when the leaders show them that their cause of exile is not there anymore or that measures have been put in place to solve the issues," Habinshuti said.
"Refugees started to return to Burundi in 2020. And we hope that the engagements between the Burundian leaders and the refugees will lead to more returnees."
