On 4/15/2020, Human Rights Activist Andrea Gagne who documents the lives of Refugees in Libya exchanged a heated tweets with Rwanda Police regarding harassments in Gashors Refugee Camp. Andrea Gagne has reported that Refugees evacuated from Libya and relocated to the Gashora camp in Rwanda are facing a new, deep pain after a Commender sexually assaulted a 16-year-old Eritrean boy.
Andrea Gagne’s tweets:
On April 13 at about 6:30pm local time, four minors came back to the camp after curfew, and were taken to the police station. They were kept there for 4 hours until the commander in charge returned to his post intoxicated.
The commander allegedly ordered one of the minors to take off his clothes. He then forced the boy to strip and beat him with a baton when he refused to remove his underwear. The officer then allegedly took out his gun and threatened the boy with it.
The 16-year-old managed to escape and the assault was reported to UNHCR and local authorities. Today (24 hours after the assault was reported) an inspector came to question the commander and the victim but no steps have been taken to remove the commander from the grounds.
The man still has full access to the community – including the minor who he allegedly assaulted. The community is already coping with severe trauma from the abuse they experienced over the years they spent in Libya in the hands of traffickers and militias.
Now the lack of support and clear communication they are receiving from authorities is exacerbating old trauma and causing heightened levels of anxiety across the camp. This is a credible allegation of assault and needs to be taken seriously for the safety of the community.
Then, someone who goes by the name of Mathewos Habteab re-twitted Andrea Gagne’s tweet to Asmara Reporter and his Excellency President Paul Kagame telling them that this act needs their immediate measure and attention.
Rwanda National Police tried to deny Andrea Gagne’s allegations stating that on 14th April three of them left the camp at 2 pm, overstayed and returned at 6.30pm. They were held at the holding room in the camp near the gate. It was discovered that they were drunk. Andrea Gagne quickly rebuked Rwanda Police stating that the incident happened on 4/13 and not 4/14 like Police claimed. Andrea Gagne didn’t hide her disappointment in Rwanda Police as she stated that “ I appreciate the details, though I am surprised to see the police force sharing details of an investigation involving alleged assault of a minor being shared publicly on Twitter.”
With these new allegations of refugee abuses reported by Andrea Gagne, it’s worth mentioning that this is not a separated case. More abuses against refugees in Rwanda have been reported from Burundi and Congo’s refugees that took place in different areas in Rwanda recently.
In 2019, a Rwanda news paper Taarifa reported that a Burundian Refugee girl wrote to President Kagame seeking justice after a Rwandan man sexually abused and impregnated her but Rwanda’s law enforcement didn’t do nothing but completely ignored her cries.
In their article published on 02/23/2019, Human Rights Watch said: “Rwandan police fired live ammunition on refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo protesting outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Karongi District, Western Province, on February 22, 2018, immediately killing at least eight. Another died later that day from her injuries and two pregnant women who had fled the shooting miscarried. Police sent to guard the Kiziba refugee camp killed three people there as they tried to leave to help the wounded protesters, a witness said.”
Rwanda has turned into hell on earth and now Kagame’s government is using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to justify its human rights violations. There is ongoing harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrests, kidnapping, illegal jailing, torture and killing of innocents people. At the end of the day, no one is safe in Kagame’s Rwanda.