After two days of high-level meetings with regional leaders on Tuesday in Kinshasa with President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and on Thursday in Kigali with Rwandan President Paul Kagame UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Friday visited Congolese refugees at the Nkamira Transit Center in Rwanda’s Rubavu District. Following this visit, he traveled to Goma for scheduled talks with leaders of the AFC/M23 movement.
Grandi stated that Congolese refugees at Nkamira have expressed their desire to return home, but only “if there is peace and security.”
Speaking during his visit to Rwanda, which began on Thursday, the UNHCR chief emphasized the importance of seizing the current momentum in peace efforts in eastern DRC to enable refugees to repatriate.
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The peace agreement signed between Rwanda and the DRC in Washington, D.C., in late June 2024, includes provisions for the voluntary repatriation of refugees from both countries. Likewise, the Doha negotiations in Qatar between the Congolese government and the AFC/M23 movement provide that refugees and internally displaced persons should return “voluntarily and in dignity,” with UNHCR’s support, as part of the agreed framework for ending the conflict.
Addressing journalists at Nkamira on Friday, Grandi acknowledged that the quest for peace remains extremely challenging. He noted that this was also the message he delivered separately to both President Kagame and President Tshisekedi earlier in the week.
He added: “Let us hope that developments move in a positive direction. We must ensure that as progress is made, we do not forget those who are here the refugees, and others affected by the conflict so that solutions can be found for all.”
“If we want refugees to return, and I have just spoken to them, they all told me the same thing: ‘We want to go back if there is peace and security.’”
Grandi highlighted that eastern DRC has for decades been plagued by instability, violence, and deep-rooted inter-ethnic mistrust.
He stressed: “We need to gradually help Congo together with Rwanda to bring security to this region. Without security, people will not return. That is the reality.”
Many Western countries and UN expert reports have accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebellion, which reignited in late 2021. Rwanda has consistently denied these allegations.
Meanwhile, in his discussions with Rwandan officials from the Ministry of Emergency Management and Refugee Affairs, Grandi raised concerns about the shrinking levels of international aid available for refugees, urging greater support to sustain assistance.
According to Rwanda’s Ministry of Emergency Management, Nkamira currently hosts 3,196 Congolese refugees.
UNHCR data from May 2023 indicated that the DRC was hosting over 208,000 Rwandan refugees at that time, while Rwanda hosted an estimated 81,000 Congolese refugees. Between January 2023 and May 2024, more than 14,000 new asylum seekers fled into Rwanda from eastern Congo.
Nkamira, located about 20 kilometers from the Goma border, serves as a temporary reception center where asylum seekers stay before being relocated to established refugee camps across Rwanda.
By mid-May 2024, the center was accommodating 6,363 people displaced from the DRC, many of whom had been there for months due to limited capacity in Rwanda’s other camps, according to UNHCR. The majority were women and children.
