AFRICA/RWANDA - Kigali reacts to the accusations of Washington on the recruitment of Burundian refugees in armed groups

Monday, 4 July 2016 refugees   armed groups  

Kigali (Agenzia Fides) - "A report politically motivated deliberately distorts reality". Thus the Ambassador of Rwanda in Washington, Mathilde Mukantabana, defined the annual US State Department report on human trafficking in the world, in which some senior Rwandan officials are accused of complicity in the recruitment, in armed groups of Burundian refugees, even children, in the course of 2015.
Already in February the UN accused Rwanda of fomenting violence in neighboring Burundi, which is undergoing a serious political crisis, and has recruited other Burundian refugees welcomed on its territory in armed groups (see Fides 04/02/2016).
The government in Kigali has responded to the American accusations by saying that it is employing significant resources to receiving and protecting refugees, and has also declared "making serious efforts to protect its citizens from the threat of human trafficking".
The report of the State Department recognizes the efforts made by Rwanda, but at the same time, accuses some Rwandan officials of complicity in the recruitment of Burundian refugees and sex trafficking in a Congolese refugee camp. The report also states that the authorities in Kigali, in the face of these accusations, have carried out some "limited investigation". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 04/07/2016)


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