American Refugee Committee Urges More Help for Rwanda

American Refugee Committee
Wednesday, 5 April 2000

The American Refugee Committee today urged the international community to step up efforts to help Rwanda, which is still struggling to recover from the genocide that began six years ago this week.

"Rwanda has dropped out of the news, but it continues to face immense challenges," ARC President Anthony Kozlowski said. "Many thousands of people are still living in refugee-like situations and the government is under enormous strain as it works to rebuild the country's infrastructure."

The genocide of about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda began after a plane crash on April 6, 1994, that killed the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, and continued for about three months. More than two million refugees fled to neighboring countries, many of whom have since returned.

Rwanda is now struggling to reintegrate the returnees into their communities, promote reconciliation between former enemies and provide basic services. There is an urgent need to strengthen the country's judicial system to handle the cases of more than 100,000 people who are in detention on charges related to the killings.

Rwanda is also host to more than 30,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other neighboring countries. Continuing conflicts in the DRC and Burundi have raised fears that regional instability could spread to Rwanda.

Kozlowski noted that a U.N.-appointed panel that investigated the 1994 genocide recommended in December 1999 that "the international community should support efforts to rebuild Rwandan society after the genocide, paying particular attention to the need for reconstruction, reconciliation and respect for human rights."

"We hope that governments and individuals take that challenge to heart so there are no more humanitarian disasters in a country that has suffered so much already," he added.

ARC has been working in Rwanda since 1994, when it helped to rebuild the health infrastructure to serve returning refugees. It has since operated a range of water, sanitation, income-generation and shelter projects in Byumba and Umutara prefectures; built a health center in Kinihira and converted an orphanage to a boarding school in Ndera.

ARC now operates in the Gihembe Refugee Camp in Byumba Prefecture, which houses Tutsi refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It provides health care and sanitation services, operates and maintains the water system, rehabilitates infrastructure and builds new shelter and health center units.

The American Refugee Committee is an international nonprofit, non-sectarian organization providing multisectoral humanitarian assistance and training to more than one million people in Africa, Asia and Europe. ARC works for the survival, health, and well-being of refugees, displaced persons, and those at risk, and seeks to enable them to rebuild productive lives of dignity and purpose, striving always to respect the values of those served.

For more information, or to contact American Refugee Committee, see their website at: www.archq.org