RWANDA: UNHCR SEES INCREASED POPULATION MOVEMENT

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