Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09KIGALI861
2009-12-17 10:30:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kigali
how-toVZCZCXYZ0005 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHLGB #0861 3511030 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 171030Z DEC 09 FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6525 INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0322
C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000861
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/16/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM PREF RW
SUBJECT: REFUGEE DEMARCHE DELIVERED
REF: STATE 126675
Classified By: Ambassador W. Stuart Symington for reasons 1.4 (b) (d)
(C) Polcouns delivered reftel demarche December 16 to Ben
Rutsinga, MFA's Director of Europe, Americas, UN and
International Organizations. Rutsinga said that the
Government of Rwanda (GOR) judged that conditions in Rwanda
were adequate for Rwandan refugees to return home. He
emphasized that the GOR did not want to force anyone to
return, and wanted to encourage host countries to find better
status for Rwandans resident in their countries, such as
registering them as aliens rather than leaving them as
"stateless" refugees, which was dehumanizing. Rwandans could
continue to live abroad if they wished, returning to Rwanda
only temporarily to visit family, for example. (Comment:
Rutsinga and his family, like many Rwandans, spent several
years in exile due to the pre-1994 government's exclusionary
policies and stance against refugee returns. End Comment.)
SYMINGTON