I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue concerning the welfare of Rwandan refugees in the camps in Zaire. My Department is closely monitoring the situation in Kibumba camp and the Goma region. This involves ongoing and regular contact with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees via our permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva. As the Deputy will recall, the UNHCR has responsibility for the care and maintenance of refugees in these camps as well as a co-ordinating role with the Government of the countries of asylum for the return of refugees. My Department also maintains close contact with Irish NGOs in Goma and Rwanda as well as with our EU partners and the UN Human Rights Mission in Rwanda. Our understanding is that the UNHCR has worked intensively in recent months with regional Governments, including the Governments of Zaire and Rwanda, to make arrangements for the voluntary organised return of refugees. They have agreed on the need to take concerted measures to give a new impetus to repatriation and on the importance of taking steps against intimidators in refugee camps.
Following these discussions the Zairean Government announced its intention to embark on a programme of camp closures. On Tuesday, 13 February, a unit of Zairean troops surrounded Kibumba camp. This camp is only a few kilometres from Rwanda and has the same relationship to it as Tallaght has to the Dublin Mountains. The Zairean Minister of the Interior announced that the intention is to prevent the residents of the camp engaging in commercial activity and thus encourage refugees to return voluntarily to Rwanda. The UNHCR sought and received assurances that troops will not go inside the camps to force refugees to depart. The Zairean authorities have also said they will not enforce a deadline. The heads of the main international agencies, including the UN special representative, are in Goma and direct contact with senior Ministers of the Zairean Government. The UNHCR is standing by to transport those who wish to return to Rwanda.
Our information is that on Tuesday, 13 February, 40 people left the camp voluntarily. Today, at 11 a.m., the figure was 91. Our latest information is that the situation remains calm and that normal relief activities are continuing, including the distribution of food, fuel and water. The circumstances are volatile and much depends on the good faith and discipline of the Zairean side.
We have raised with the UNHCR and the aid agencies our specific concerns about the welfare of aid workers working with the Irish aid agencies in Zaire. We have been assured that contingencies are in place to evacuate personnel if the situation deteriorates from a security perspective. The decision of the Zairean Government to secure the camps in Kibumba yesterday raised understandable fears in the public mind that Zaire was resorting to enforced repatriation of refugees by violent methods on the lines witnessed last August. Our position on this issue is clear: we will not condone the use of violence to force Rwandan refugees in Zaire to return to their homes in Rwanda. This is also the position of our EU partners, some of whom are providing police advisers to the UNHCR on security within the camps.
On several occasions in recent weeks the Tánaiste briefed the House on the situation of Rwandan refugees in the neighbouring states of Zaire, Tanzania and Burundi. We must be aware that local people in these countries, particularly in Zaire and Tanzania, are considerably worse off than the refugees under international protection and fed by the international community. That is not an inconsiderable factor.
The Government considers that the voluntary and organised return of refugees is central to a solution of the political and humanitarian crisis in the Great Lakes region. In addition, it has repeatedly made clear that efforts to promote regional stability and encourage large-scale voluntary organised repatriation, including the efforts of former President Carter, have our fullest support. We recently received a detailed briefing from Julius Nyerere, the former President of Tanzania, who has also been making efforts to secure peace in the region.
I had an opportunity to see the situation in the camps at first hand last October when I accompanied President Robinson on her visit to Goma and Kibumba camp. The assessments of Zairean, NGO and UN officials then — as now — point to the need for decisive action against intimidators from the former Rwandan Government who operate in the camps to discourage ordinary refugees from returning to their homes in Rwanda. We must bear in mind that many of the Hutu refugees who are in the camps in Zaire were involved in the perpetration of genocide against the Tutsis.
My impression, which has been confirmed by correspondence, is that most people simply want to go home, but there is great intimidation from the Interhamwe and other elements among Hutu militants. Within Rwanda we have been assured that contingency plans are in place to prepare for increased numbers of returning refugees and facilitate their safe return to their homes. The planning involves close co-operation between the Government of Rwanda, the UNHCR, international aid agencies and the UN Human Rights Field Operation for Rwanda.
The Deputy rightly expressed concern about the safety of Rwandan refugees on return to their homes and the humanitarian crisis in the prisons in Rwanda. This issue must be considered against the repeated statement by the Rwandan Government of its commitment to refugee return and its active co-operation with the UNHCR and aid agencies in planning for such a return. When in that country last October we expressed very forcefully to the Rwandan Government our concerns on these issues. There have been some improvements in the judicial system since then, including the appointment of a supreme court. We stated our view that conditions in which prisoners are held are unacceptable. At the same time we have made available considerable financial support to the International Committee of the Red Cross which is working with the Government to relieve prison overcrowding.
We cannot ignore the fact that the 1994 genocide was a major catastrophe for Rwanda. Close to one million Rwandan people were killed and some people estimate that between one and two million Rwandan people could be criminally implicated in these killings. The genocide has caused the collapse of the justice system and led to the huge problem of prison overcrowding. Alleviating the crisis in the prisons in Rwanda requires urgent international action and must be accompanied by a coherent sustained strategy to rebuild Rwanda's justice system so as to allow the domestic judicial process to get under way as quickly and effectively as possible. I have expressed my disappointment that no effective indictments of the perpetrators of genocide were made by the international tribunal. It is extremely difficult for Tutsis and moderate Hutus to understand and appreciate that.
As the Tánaiste outlined in his reply on 7 February, the Government has dispersed a total of £6.9 million for emergency relief and rehabilitation efforts in the Rwandan region since 1994. The assistance has been channelled through the Irish relief agencies and the Rwandan Government and to multilateral agencies. The objective of our assistance has been to support international efforts to bring relief to refugees and restore the judicial system and the rule of law in Rwanda. Last year the Government spent more than £1.35 million on the justice sector and human rights initiatives in Rwanda. Assistance was provided for communal police training and to restore legal structures in the Ministries of Justice and the Interior. The Government also allocated grants to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the UN Human Rights Field Operation and for the UN High Commission for Human Rights programme to rehabilitate the system of justice in Rwanda. The Government will continue to work politically and on the humanitarian front to find solutions to the complex and intractable problems of the Great Lakes region.
