As of 2015, Rwanda hosted 75,000 Burundian refugees according to UNHCR. When credible reports surfaced that Rwanda recruited and trained Burundi refugees including children to remove Burundian President Nkurunziza, Rwanda announced to relocate Burundian refugees to third countries.[2]
Since September 2019, Rwanda has also taken in Libyan refugees and asylum-seekers, operating a refugee center at Gashora, Rwanda, which houses up to 700 refugees from eight African countries (Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon) and is financed by UNHCR until 31 December 2023.[3]
In 2021 Denmark signed a deal to establish an asylum center in Kigali, and since April 2022, the UK has sought to shift its asylum responsibilities, considering Rwanda a safe third country by offering 120 million pounds in economic development programs in return for accepting refugees.[1]
Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Rwanda maintains diplomatic relations with:
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 12 January 1984[142]
In 1994 Bangladesh provided roughly 900 peace-keeping troops, including soldiers and medical personnel, to Rwanda to aid in keeping the peace during the Rwandan genocide, one of more than 40 countries to do so.[143]
Belgium was the colonial power, administering the League of Nationsmandate in Ruanda Urundi from 1922 until their independence in 1962. See Ruanda-Urundi.
Burundi and Rwanda have always had diplomatic relations as the two were very closed linked kingdoms and their political relations can date back to the year 1091, when the Kingdom of Rwanda was founded, the two kingdoms always had close relationships and even political alliances between the two monarchies. In the modern era, the two states dispute sections of border on the Akanyaru and the Kagera/Nyabarongo rivers, which have changed course since the 1960s, when the boundary was delimited; cross-border conflicts among Tutsi, Hutu, other ethnic groups, associated political rebels, armed gangs, and various government forces persist in the Great Lakes region.
In 1998, Rwanda, along with Uganda, invaded the Democratic Republic of the Congo to back Congolese rebels trying to overthrow then-President Laurent Kabila. Rwandan troops remain in the Congo, backing rebels that aim to overthrow Laurent Kabila's son, Joseph Kabila, who is now the President of the Congo. Rwandan troops have pulled back, however, behind disengagement lines set forth in the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame met with the Democratic Republic of the Congo's President Joseph Kabila in Goma on 6 August 2009.[149] It was the first presidential meeting between the two countries for 13 years,[150] with the two countries having come to a disagreement in 1996 following an invasion by Rwanda into eastern Congo, a disagreement which was renewed in 1998 after a further invasion.[149] The pair of presidents spent more than two hours in the company of each other and "reviewed all issues of common interest".[149] Kabila referred to it as "the first giant step forward" in what was referred to as an "all new era".[150] One month previous to the meeting both countries had appointed ambassadors to each other's capitals.[149][150]
As a result of French complicity before, during and after the genocide, with the genocidaires (that is, those who committed the genocide),[151] Rwanda cut off relations with France at the end of the war, and replaced French with English as an official language. Relations were resumed in November 2009. Nicolas Sarkozy visited Kigali in February 2010.[152]
in 2016, A French court ordered the re-opening of the case investigating the fatal plane crash that killed Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana in 1994.[153] The move angered administration in Ghana. The National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG) issued the names of French military 22 officers[154] requested for depositions. The officers were station in France during the 1994 Turquoise safe zone operation.
In 1962, Israel was the second country to recognize Rwanda's independence.
In 1973 the relations were severed and restored in October 1994 after the Rwandan genocide.
22 August 1972 opened Embassy Republic of Korea in Rwanda, but closed 31 May 1975, reopened 11 September 1987, the embassy was closed again 30 November 1990 and reopened 30 December 2011. Rwanda opened its embassy in Seoul 30 March 2009[170]
Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Republic of Rwanda is 21 March 1963.[171]
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 7 January 1965 when accredited first Ambassador of Rwanda to Tanzania (resident in Kampala) Mr. Musabyimana Malachie[172]
^Petruf, Pavol. Československá zahraničná politika 1945 – 1992 (in Slovak). p. 108.
^Österreichische Zeitschrift Für Aussenpolitik (in German). Vol. 5. 1965. p. 392.
^Michael Th Neugebauer (1992). Die österreichisch-afrikanischen Beziehungen seit 1955 (in German). Böhlau. p. 110. 14.9.65: ... 2) Zl. 140-276-4 pol/65, betr. der Aufnahme diplomatischer Beziehungen zwischen Österreich und Rwanda
^Diplomatic Corps. Department of External Affairs, Ottawa. 1966. p. 8.
^Commonwealth Papers. University of London. Institute of Commonwealth Studies. 1974. p. 76. Rwanda: An embassy was established in 1965. Rwanda had no mission in Ghana.
^Quarterly Economic Review: Congo, Rwanda, Burundi. Economist Intelligence Unit. 1966. p. 8.
^Summary of World Broadcasts Non-Arab Africa · Issues 2262-2303. British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service. 1966. p. 6.
^Bulletin de l'Afrique noire Issues 627-651 (in French). Ediafric. 1971. M. Mohamed DIOP , ambassadeur du Sénégal en République démocratique du Congo et au Burundi , a présenté ses lettres de créance au Rwanda le 9 février 1971 ...
^Bulletin de l'Afrique noire - Issues 718-742 (in French). Ediafric. 1973.
^"Часть II Зарубежные страны: Руанда"(PDF). Ежегодник Большой Советской Энциклопедии. 1974. Выпуск восемнадцатый (in Russian). p. 366. Archived from the original(PDF) on 29 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
^D.G. Lavroff (1973). L'Afrique dans le monde (in French). Editions A. Pedone. p. 617. 1 février. — Etablissement de relations diplomatiques entre le Rwanda et la Gréce au niveau de l'ambassade
^Daily Report Western Europe February-April, 1980 Vol.2 No.2. NewsBank, inc. p. 59.
^"Etat des Relations". Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres et de la Cooperation Internationale Djibouti (in French). Archived from the original on 18 August 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
^A política externa do regime militar brasileiro: multilateralização, desenvolvimento e construção de uma potência média, 1964-1985 (in Portugal). Editora da Universidade, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. 1998. p. 330.
^Libro amarillo correspondiente al año ...: presentado al Congreso Nacional en sus sesiones ordinarias de ... por el titular despacho (in Spanish). Venezuela. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. 2003. pp. 528–529.
^IDSA News Review on South Asia/Indian Ocean - Volume 17. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. 1984. p. 3.
^Grünfeld, Frederik; Huijboom, Anke (2007). The Failure to Prevent Genocide in Rwanda: The Role of Bystanders. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 58, 208, 214.