RWANDA: REFUGEES BEING RECRUITED BY DRC ARMED

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000265 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/11/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF PREL RW SUBJECT: RWANDA: REFUGEES BEING RECRUITED BY DRC ARMED GROUPS REF: A. 07 KIGALI 547 ¶B. 07 KIGALI 1019 Classified By: CDA Cheryl J. Sim, reason 1.4 (B/D) ¶1. (C) Summary: On March 11 2008, RefCoord met with staff of both UNHCR and UNICEF-Rwanda who expressed the conviction that representatives of armed groups from the DRC traveled to Rwanda on more than one occasion to recruit adolescent refugees as fighters. Although refugees refused to make official accusations of recruitment, refugee women in camps told protection staff that young men who have left the camps are dying on the DRC side of the border. In a subsequent meeting with ICRC representatives, they said they shared the suspicion that recruitment in the camps was an issue, and that Rwandan authorities knew young people moved across the borders for a variety of reasons. Observers in Rwanda say it would be difficult to determine if this recruitment was organized with the knowledge or complicity of the Government of Rwanda. End summary. ¶2. (C) As previously reported (see reftels),UNHCR protection officers received consistent reports from refugees, especially women, that young men are leaving the camp to participate in the fighting in DRC. According to the refugees, recruiters come to the camps in the evenings when all the foreign workers have left. They promise the young people that if they come to the DRC, the recruiters would see to it that the families of volunteers are cared for in the camps. Additionally, some refugees reported that recruiters tell young men that their families would receive favorable treatment once they return to the DRC if the men go to fight now. ¶3. (C) UNICEF staff, responsible for child protection and sexual- and gender-based violence sectors reported that they too had received anecdotal evidence of recruitment. UNICEF had noted a demonstrable movement of young men from Rwanda into the DRC. Refugee leaders explained this as young men going to DRC to seek employment, help in agriculture or to attend secondary school. Camp workers were suspicious of such facile explanations. They said that families in the camps sometimes hold mourning services for young men who returned to the DRC and died there. ¶4. (C) The camps had little in the way of alternatives to offer teenaged males. There was no support to secondary schools, and very little in the way of vocational education. Families lived in overcrowded conditions, and the surrounding communities were not welcoming to refugees who venture out of the camps. Without compelling reason to remain in the camps, UNHCR opined that the young men go willingly into DRC hoping to achieve some promised advantage. ¶5. (C) Should refugees attempt to cross the border into DRC, they do so without official travel or identity documents. Any attempt to leave or enter the country through clandestine means could result in arrest and imprisonment. UNHCR protection officers told RefCoord that Rwandan authorities had not detained any refugees for border violations or lack of documentation in the preceding 90 days. ¶6. (C) Comment: None of the international organizations in Rwanda are willing to publicly say the Government of Rwanda (GOR) is even indirectly complicit in the recruitment of refugee fighters. They report that some MONUC officers Qrefugee fighters. They report that some MONUC officers maintain that Rwanda is involved in supplying and reinforcing the fighters. However, when pressed, MONUC can offer no reliable evidence of GOR involvement. ¶7. (C) Comment continued: It appears logical that in an ordered and well-policed society like Rwanda today, the authorities would be aware of activities of recruiters for armed groups at refugee camps. However, given the remoteness of the border regions and the volume of traffic traditionally recorded at the borders, it is perfectly plausible that Rwanda could know of, but cannot control, the movement of small numbers of young men from the camps into the DRC. End comment. SIM