The Government of Rwanda in collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is relocating refugees from Gihembe, in Gicumbi District to Mahama camp in Kirehe District for their well-being and safety.
The motive for this ongoing exercise is to settle refugees in a better place given that Gihembe camp is located in a high-risk area and is affected by environmental hazards caused by erosion and ravaging ravines, with aging infrastructures.
Concerned refugees will either be transferred to Mahama camp or register as urban refugees.
Depending on their decision, relocated refugees are entitled to the same rights and package of assistance allocated to any other camp or urban refugees in Rwanda according to their vulnerability classification theme.
The Gihembe camp is home to 9,922 individuals of 2,277 households of whom 2,392 refugees have already been transferred to Mahama. The remaining families are set to be relocated by December 2021.
Gihembe refugee camp was established in December 1997 to host survivors of the Mudende Massacre. Mudende was a refugee camp in western Rwanda hosting Congolese refugees from eastern DRC. In August and again in December of 1997, armed groups from DRC crossed the border and attacked the camp – murdering hundreds of refugees. Today, 99% of the refugees in Gihembe are Mudende massacre survivors. (End).