#osmers

This piece, written by the Reverend John Osmers, Assistant Anglican Bishop of Lusaka, has been lightly edited in accordance with Rights in Exile Submission & Style Guidelines.

Former Rwandan refugees in Zambia unwillingly lost their refugee status on 30 June 2013. How have they fared since that time? They have faced grave disadvantages as former refugees without legal status in Zambia. For example, they have not had valid refugee identity cards which are required by banks, as well as by schools and colleges.

Without refugee status, they have been unable to qualify for resettlement, and Rwandan refugees have not been resettled since 2012. Moreover, they have not been granted German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI) sponsorship for tertiary education since that time. The Rwandan refugee community takes education very seriously and many Rwandan refugees have attained professional qualifications with the help of DAFI sponsorship. Tertiary study is very difficult to access without such sponsorship because of the high cost. Former Rwandan refugees had expected to achieve local integration in Zambia over a period of three years as was suggested by the Strategic Framework for the Local Integration of Former Refugees in Zambia issued by the Zambian government and the UNHCR in January 2014. The strategic plan envisaged a budget of $20,947,342 contributed by the government of Zambia and foreign donors. Former Rwandan refugees have waited patiently for local integration for four years and this is now likely to be achieved.

There are 4,000 former Rwandan refugees who qualify for local integration in Zambia. In order to achieve this, they need Zambian residence permits, for which the immigration authorities require a Rwandan government passport. For four years, former Rwandan Hutu  refugees have been persistently unwilling to apply for passports which they believe would put them under the control of the Tutsi dominated Rwandan government. They are refugees in Zambia because their well-founded fear of persecution has been recognised by the Zambian government. They have not considered themselves to be ordinary migrants coming to Zambia as investors or to study. They have maintained their refugee identity and their need for international protection.

When Rwandan refugee status ceased in June 2013, the former refugees had to apply to have their refugee status maintained. This involved interviews by lawyers. The vast majority of applicants had refugee status refused and were told they should return to Rwanda. Valid reasons for maintaining refugee identity like leaving Rwanda after December 1998, long term stay in Zambia, family unity, professional qualifications and having provided evidence in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda were not considered. The office of the Commissioner for Refugees along with the UNHCR took the position that Rwanda was a peaceful country, so all refugees should repatriate. The authorities determining refugee policy were listening more to the Rwandan government than to Rwandan refugees themselves. It is suspected that some influential people in Zambia received monetary or other forms of payment in order to support the Kigali regime, in particular its policy relating to the control of former Rwandan refugees, both through promoting their repatriation to Rwanda and by requiring Rwandan government passports as a precondition for their local integration.

A change came about under the Patriotic Front government of President Michael Sata. Because of representations by local Zambians in April 2014, President Sata agreed that 41 Rwandan professionals in the medical field and other professions as well as business people should be given residence permits without the requirement of Rwandan government passports. However this concession was not extended to more Rwandan refugees probably because senior government officials responsible for refugee policy were not happy with this new development.

Over the past four years, at least forty former Rwandan refugees, about 1% of the total, have obtained Rwandan government passports. Zambian government officials and the UNHCR have unsuccessfully tried to persuade the refugee community to change its mind through public meetings, two go-and-see, come-and-tell events, and a television documentary broadcast in April 2015. After the cessation of refugee status, there was a flurry of Rwandan government visits in July and October 2013, to encourage former refugees in Zambia to repatriate or take Rwandan government passports for local integration. These visits were boycotted by the former Rwandan refugee community and the second delegation faced a demonstration of placard-carrying refugee protesters. Previously, in January 2012, there had been a procession of women in mourning attire carrying a coffin as a form of protest in front of the offices of the commissioner Commissioner for Refugees and the UNHCR. They said they wanted to be killed in Zambia and their ashes sent to Rwanda in the coffin rather than be slaughtered through forceful repatriation.

A Zambian delegation to Rwanda on 28 March 2015 resulted in the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs threatening the deportation of Rwandan refugees who declined to take Rwandan government passports within a prescribed period. The Zambian government tried to resolve this impasse in May 2017 by holding a workshop to determine an appropriate solution for those Rwandans who previously held refugee status. The workshop comprised representative of the concerned Government Ministries, the UNHCR, IOM, representatives of the governments of Ghana and Tanzania as well as the Universities of Dar Es-Salaam and Zambia.

Representatives of the Zambian mainline churches and former Rwandan refugees were not invited to attend. For many decades the Zambian churches have been actively involved in refugee welfare and advocacy. The Catholic Church and the late Cardinal Medardo Mazombwe along with the present Archbishop of Lusaka, Telesphore Mpundu, have been heavily involved. The assimilation of long term refugees into Zambian society is a moral as well as a legal issue and church representatives could have given valuable insights into the Rwandan refugee experience. The workshop resulted in a cabinet memorandum which suggested two solutions to be followed.

First, former Rwandan refugees were to immediately obtain Rwandan government passports in order to receive residence permits, or be forcibly repatriated. The second solution was to delay the process by one year by obtaining a temporary permit which would be issued at an affordable cost. A deadline  of one year was given and it was suggested that the government would need K500,000 (i.e $50,000) to deport those Rwandan former refugees who had not complied with immigration requirements. This decision reversed the fifty-year tradition of refugee protection under the 1951 Geneva Convention which prohibits forced repatriation. The cabinet memorandum suggested that former Rwandan refugees were being intimidated by so called ‘hard liners’ not to take Rwandan government passports. This allegation about hard liners has been made since the tripartite agreement on cessation in 2003. It was stated that former Rwandan refugees are living in Zambia illegally and consequently may want to take Zambian registration cards by fraud, thus possibly becoming a danger to state security.

It is remarkable that the cabinet memorandum has not been implemented. Former Rwandan refugees along with all other refugees are being registered in family units. They have been told that those eligible will receive immigration permits which will allow them access to local integration. There is no longer mention of the need for Rwandan government passports. Former Rwandan refugees know that the President has goodwill towards refugees generally and he wants former refugees to achieve local integration according to the provisions of Zambian law.

The Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Abdon Mawere, through his wisdom and compassion shows an enlightened approach to former Rwandan refugees, and refugees in general. Local integration gives many advantages. The new constitution signed in January 2016 allows them to achieve citizenship after ten years. The new Refugee Act of 2017 allows them to own land and houses. Those who are locally integrated can be allocated ten-hectare plots of land in the settlements where they live or other areas under certain conditions of successful land use. To promote local integration plots of land will also be allocated to selected Zambian farmers. Former refugees will be given improved schools, clinics, water points and roads. They will enjoy freedom of movement and employment which had formerly been restricted by reservations made to the 1951 Geneva Convention. Urban refugees can own small businesses without conditions applicable to foreign investors.

The reluctance to assume Rwandan government passports allowing them these generous benefits of local integration demonstrates that former Rwandan refugees have been determined to maintain their identity as Hutus, rejecting Rwandan government control no matter what the cost. The Zambian government recognizes that former Rwandan refugees are promoting Zambian development through their successful subsistence farming diversification of crops, and the introduction of new house-building techniques. Many former Rwandan refugee professionals benefit the nation especially in the medical and teaching professions. Small shop owners benefit those residing in the Lusaka compounds.

Former Rwandan refugees can trust the words of the former Minister of Home Affairs, the Honorable Edger Chagwa Lungu MP, now his Excellency the President of Zambia on the day of the cessation of the refugee status, that they will not be returned to Rwanda by force. At the same time former Rwandan refugees still have fears for their security. The Rwandan High Commission has opened an office in Lusaka. There is the desire to improve trade between the two countries and to assist Rwandan teachers to teach in the English language. In June 2017, President Kagame made a state visit to Zambia and there were discussions on trade and development. Zambia is in the process of enacting an extradition treaty which will require reciprocal action from Kigali. Rwandan former refugees are concerned about this enactment which they believe may be used as a means of political control against perceived opponents. They may not receive a fair trial in Rwanda and they believe accusations should be made through the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Rwandan refugee business people and professionals in Zambia allege that they are under surveillance by Rwandan government agents. Some former Rwandan refugee leaders suspect there was an attempt to kidnap and remove them to Rwanda in October 2016. Clement Nshimyumukiza, a former deputy mayor in Rwanda, was murdered by unknown foreign assailants, an invident which was witnessed by his son on 30 May 2014. Some weeks later, Mr. Nshimyumukiza’s shop was ransacked, causing his family to become destitute. His death was suspected to have a political motive and his wife, Esperance Bahati, and sic children were given safe custody by the UNHCR and have been resettled in Sweden.

Two former Rwandan refugees, Ejide Rwasibo and Innocent Habumugisha were summarily deported from Zambia in December 2015 for reasons of state security. From 18 to 20 April 2016 there were violent attacks against foreign small-business owners who were suspected to be responsible for some gruesome ritual killings in the high density compounds in Lusaka. Over seventy Rwandan small-business owners had their shops looted in response. In this particular instance, it was actually Zambians who were charged for the ritual murders and many Zambians were sentenced for the criminal attacks to enrich themselves from the looted shops. There are suspicions that some of the attacks against the Rwandan refugee shopkeepers were politically motivated. The churches have given some help to those affected. There are small Rwandan church communities which give valuable support for solidarity and service initiatives to benefit former refugees.

By the Rt Reverend John Osmers, Assistant Anglican Bishop of Lusaka, Zambia, and former Anglican Bishop of Eastern Zambia. This article has been lightly edited for Rights in Exile style.

The recent attacks on foreigners in Zambia are an unexpected and shameful episode in the country's long and illustrious history of supporting refugees. Zambia has provided a secure home to several hundreds of thousands of refugees over the past 50 years: however during 18-20 April 2016 this year, marauding gangs of looters destroyed small shops owned by foreigners in some of the poorer compounds which are the most densely populated areas of Lusaka.

Prior to these events, a number of unexplained ritual murders in Lusaka had caused fear and suspicion. Despite no evidence of the involvement of non-Zambians in these crimes, a rumour quickly spread that body parts had been found in the small shop of a foreigner, prompting widespread attacks on many small, foreign-owned shops. Assisted by the army, the police eventually brought the attacks to an end, but not before approximately 70 shops had been destroyed. Most of the small shop keepers are former Rwandan refugees. Of the 5-6,000 Rwandan former refugees living in Zambia, around 1,000 are urban refugees who support themselves by running successful small businesses which help the local communities.

The attacks were perpetrated by poor Zambians taking advantage of the rumours of foreigner involvement in ritual murders to steal groceries and other items. Around 250 looters have since been arrested and are now facing court charges. On 10 April 2016, four Zambians - including two soldiers and a traditional doctor - were together charged with seven counts of murder, all of which involved the removal of body parts.

At the time of the attacks, several hundred refugees approached UNHCR, the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees and St Ignatius Roman Catholic Church to seek protection. The majority were refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), who are generally street traders rather than small shopkeepers. The President of Zambia Mr Edgar Lungu has always been ready to listen to refugees. He visited a group of around 400 sheltering in the Catholic church and appeared on state television expressing his profound regret for the attacks and emphasising the government’s intention to secure the safety of all foreigners in Zambia.

The DRC refugees requesting protection have since been transported to the two large refugee settlements of Mayukwayukwa and Meheba, where they may hope to ask for resettlement to a third country. On 6 May 2016, approximately 60 Banyamulenge DRC refugees were apprehended at the Kazungula border when trying to enter Botswana.

Rwandan Hutu former refugees are particularly vulnerable in Zambia. Their refugee status was removed against their will in June 2013, but unlike Angolan former refugees in Zambia they have not yet been given local integration. In order to obtain Zambian residence permits, Zambian law requires that they first take Rwandan government passports, which they decline to do. They fear this will bring them under the control of the Tutsi-led Rwandan government.

Their vulnerability has been further increased by the three days of attacks in April, which some observers have suggested may have been encouraged by Rwandan government agents in order to destabilise the situation of Rwandan former refugees by causing divisions between them and the local Zambian population.

Many Rwandan and Burundian refugees in Lusaka belong to the Roman Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist churches, where they meet together on a weekly or monthly basis, and both churches have organised relief programmes for their members and others who have been seriously affected by the attacks. In the last week of April 2016, Pope Francis sent his Emissary Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to Zambia to express the Catholic Church’s concern. He brought financial assistance and met with refugees, all Catholic Bishops and other concerned persons.

The following piece discusses the new criteria for local integration of Rwandan former refugees in Zambia, and was submitted to the Rights in Exile Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter by Reverend John Osmers, Assistant Bishop of Lusaka, Zambia. For reasons of clarity, the piece has been lightly edited.

The long awaited Criteria published by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 4 November 2015 are singularly unhelpful for Rwandan former refugees. They give them anxiety about the local integration process which is supposed to be a positive one, enabling them to flourish as former refugees, and for which donor countries are giving generously.

The insistence on Rwandan Government passports for immigration permits which most former Rwandan refugees resist, will exclude them from the Government of Zambia /UNHCR local integration programme.

Local integration is offered to 4000 Rwandan former refugees. We may consider them in the following categories:

Over 730 former refugees have various immigration permits. These will include a small number with residence permits, with study permits and employment permits, and fewer with investor permits. Residence permits can be given to those who arrived in Zambia between 1994 and 1998.

Rwandan former refugees in the refugee settlements. They form over two third of Rwandan former refugees, over 3000, who are subsistence farmers in Meheba Settlement. It is unclear what permits they may apply for. Almost all Angolan former refugees are subsistence farmers and qualify for residence permits because of “long stay/continuous residence,” having lived in Zambia for over 30 years. The Government of Zambia and the “Strategic Framework for Local Integration”, which UNHCR published in January 2014, acknowledges on page 13 that criteria for investor permits proved “difficult to meet” for Angolan former refugees, hence most permits being given to them are residence permits for “long stay”. The “long stay” category is not available for Rwandan former refugees.

Meheba settlement’s fertile land in Zone G has been cultivated by Rwandan former refugee farmers over the past 17 to 18 years, producing profitable harvests of rice and other crops and banana plantations. It is being re-allocated to Angolan former refugees and Zambian farmers under the local integration scheme. This [re-allocation process] began before the publication of the Criteria for Rwandan former refugees’ local integration. Former refugees are said not to qualify unless they possess Rwandan Government passports. This they decline to do, even if it means losing their traditional farmlands on which they depend for food security, and extra income for health, education, and other needs. The residents foresee the break-up of their viable and long established community that gives them social support. Land dispossession because of refusal to acquire Rwandan Government passports means leaving the place they call “home.” It means further refugee-type displacement at the time they are supposed to be cultivating for the next year’s harvest.

Urban Rwandan former refugees. This is a smaller number, between 800 to 900. Most support themselves and their families by small businesses in Solwezi and the Lusaka compounds with capital assets of about US$ 3,000 to US$ 5,000 ,or K40,000 to K70,000. This enables them to meet basic expenses like rent, food for the family, school fees and so on, and to enjoy some of the benefits of urban life.

Local integration criteria identify former refugees as “investors”. They are required to have Immigration investor permits designed for foreigners desiring to do business in Zambia. Hence the requirement to “attach proof of registration of the Company with Patents and Companies’ Registration Authority.” They require also proof of investment of a considerable sum of money. US$ 150,000 is needed for an existing business, or a 1,752,000 kwacha, and US$ 250,000 or 3,000,000 kwacha for a new business.

Refugees come to Zambia because they fear persecution in their countries of origin. They do not come as entrepreneurs to do business. Urban former refugees are not “investors”. Government officials should provide subsistence farmers in the refugee settlements with other type of permits. The Government of Zambia / UNHCR “Strategic Framework” acknowledges that the criteria for Investor Permits are “difficult to meet”.

Both settlement and urban refugees resist taking Rwandan Government passports for local integration. Meheba Settlement former Rwandan refugees are already losing their long established fertile farmland to Angolan and Zambian farmers as a result; this happens whilst they ought to cultivate for next year’s harvest.  

Urban refugees face the requirements of investor permits that are impossible to fulfill. Most run small shops without permits and face unwelcome visits by immigration officers who, allegedly, negotiate bribes to allow the shops to stay open. Because of these conditions, challenges will continue with or without Rwandan Government passports.

Applications for permits are to be submitted to the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees or Refugee Officers of the Mayukwayukwa and Meheba refugee settlements between 4 November and 5 February 2016. Former refugees have three months to apply for permits.

Those who have not yet received the decision of the Minister of Home Affairs on their exemption appeals are asked to collect their letters from the Office of the Commissioner of Refugees. The letters will very likely confirm that the great majority of Rwandan former refugees have lost their appeals to retain refugee status, and as a consequence they will retain the status of “former refugees”, without international protection.

There is no mention in the published Criteria of forced repatriation of Rwandan former refugees who decline to take Rwandan Government passports, as announced by the Assistant Minister of Home Affairs, Col Panji Kaunda, at a press conference which followed the Tripartite talks in Kigali on 25 March 2015. However, the Refugee Officer in Meheba Settlement reportedly stated in a public meeting on 18 November, that those who do not register with Rwandan Government passports will become prohibited immigrants. This may not be Zambian Government policy and a request to the UNHCR Senior Protection Officer for confirmation of this still awaits a reply.

In conclusion; Rwandan former refugees face Criteria for local integration that they consider are impossible to fulfill. They have been assured they will not be forcibly repatriated. But what alternative can the Zambian Government offer the 4000 Rwandan former refugees to local integration under the Criteria now published?

Could residence permits, as given to 43 professionals and employers of labour in April 2013 “in the national interest” be extended to others?

Could Temporary Permits be modified as to the period of validity (3 months) and the cost (K4000 or US$ 300)? The UNHCR Senior Protection Officer has stated that the Temporary Permit is not a durable solution, as the holder may not own land and benefit from the local integration programme, nor apply for citizenship.

Can a return to refugee status, granted by the Government of Zambia and not UNHCR, be a viable solution? Former refugees may desire resettlement, but it may not be a viable option, once they have lost their refugee status.

All African countries hosting Rwandan former refugees have promised to give them the protection they need. A Joint Ministerial meeting was held by 12 countries hosting Rwandan refugees, including Zambia, together with the UNHCR and AU, in Geneva on 2 October 2015. Their Joint Communiqué said on the issue of local integration:

“They will explore the acquisition of an alternative legal status by waiving or reducing related fees, and easing administrative requirements”, and “[t]hey recognise the need to prevent former refugees from being left without a legal status, and/or becoming at risk of statelessness, and agree to take all possible measures, including exploring the acquisition of citizenship, to avoid such an outcome.

The following piece has been lightly edited and was submitted on behalf of the Rwandan Former Refugee Community in Zambia by Bishop John Osmers.

The Government of Zambia and UNHCR on 30th June 2013 declared the end of refugee status of all Rwandans who left their country of origin before 31st December 1998.  The majority of these former refugees demonstrated their unwillingness to return home explaining various reasons of fear of persecution. They have appealed to the office of the Ministry of Home Affairs asking for exemption from the cessation clause of their refugee status.

The implementation of the cessation clause has put a standstill to the normal life of these former refugees, especially through lack of valid identification papers and Immigration permits which expired on 30th June, 2013.

We are very grateful that Zambia as a nation and through the Patriotic Front Government has extended its humanitarian hand by accepting to locally integrate 10,000 former Angolan refugees and 4,000 former Rwandan refugees. We are also happy that donors in the international community have accepted to fund the Government of Zambia in implementing this generous activity.

We are aware that local integration may need to meet some kind of criteria and documentation according to Zambian law, but we reject any suggestion that would require us to obtain a passport issued by the Rwandan Government which we left for fear of persecution. The same Government followed us in exile, killing children, women and old people, as evidenced by the UN Mapping Report on human rights abuses and crimes against humanity committed by the Rwandan army from 2002.   

Assassinations, disappearances at night, and kidnapping of people labeled “genocidaires” and government opponents have continued inside and outside the country to date. One may cite  cases of assassination  of Rwandan refugees in Kenya and South Africa, incidents of spying  in the UK and France, and the kidnapping of the former Minister of Justice in Rwanda, Agnes Ntamabyariro,  when she was  a refugee in  Mufulira, Zambia.

We will disassociate ourselves from any document or passport issued by Rwanda that will make us vulnerable to the same Government we fled from for fear of persecution, until the conditions of security are normalised in Rwanda for all people regardless of tribe, religion or region. That will be through true reconciliation, freedom of assembly, association and expression, and democracy and justice for all.

The cessation clause is applicable only to Rwandese refugees, who left the country before 31st December, 1998. People who have been leaving the country since then are being given refugee status and international protection. How can Rwanda be safe for one group of its people but at the same time unsafe for others?

We recognize the security concern regarding  the need to differentiate a former Rwandan refugee in Zambia from any other Rwandan who may use their passport to commit crimes or illegal acts. They may do this so the criminal acts may be attributed to former refugees, so to bring blame on them by the Zambian community.

We implore the Government of Zambia, and the House of Chiefs to consider our plea so that we may continue staying in Zambia regardless of the requirement of any Rwandan documents.

Dear Editors,

In your August Legal Aid Newsletter you wrote of the issue of the priest, Viateur Banyangadora who was deported for criticising the poor payments given to cotton farmers. Did you know that subsequently the Director of Immigration was relieved of his post, and Fr Viateur has returned to his work in the diocese of Chipata? The deportation was acknowledged to be a mistake.

Early in December the country celebrated tree planting day. The Rwandan community gave small trees to all M.P.s, Judges and Chiefs, as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for the integration of 4000 Rwandans. They pledged to give 4000 trees over five  years. This has received a very positive response from the President, M.Ps and others. No other refugee community has expressed gratitude for Zambia's hospitality in such a way before.

This letter further details recent interactions between Rwandan refugees and the government of Zambia.

Rt Reverend John Osmers