Mbogo (South Rwanda), June 24, 2005 (FH) - Afternoons in Rwandan villages are a time to relax on roadside verandas or neighbourhood bars recounting the day’s major events.

Pascal Murerangabo, 36, has chosen to sit in his backyard.

He says he is not yet comfortable appearing in places where his neighbours could see him.

Murerangabo is one of an estimated 5,000 residents of this border area who returned two weeks ago after they were denied asylum in Burundi.

The Rwandans, mainly ethnic Hutus, claimed they were afraid their Tutsi neighbours and the government were planning to kill them.

The exodus to Burundi began in mid-April, shortly after the start of the first genocide trials in Rwanda’s semi-traditional genocide courts known as Gacaca.

The courts were set up three years ago to speed up justice and reconciliation. An estimated one million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by extremist Hutus in 1994.

“I was told by my cousin that we had to flee or risk being killed”, Murerangabo explains of his reason for fleeing his village. “I believed him”, he adds as he shifts on his little stool.

How people like Murerangabo returned to Rwanda en masse, only weeks after they fled claiming their lives were in danger, is still a subject of controversy.

The UN and humanitarian organizations say the refugees were, contrary to international laws, forcibly repatriated by the Burundian government with the blessing of their Rwandan counterparts. Rwanda and Burundi have strongly denied this, saying the return was a result of continuous sensitization campaigns in the camps carried out by Rwandan officials.

Rwanda has also denied claims by the former asylum seekers that their lives were in danger in Rwanda. Instead, the minister of local government (the most senior government official dealing with the refugee issue), Protais Musoni, says "most of these people were running away fearing charges in the local Gacaca courts and, it is not the mandate of UNHCR to accept such a group of people". The rest, according to the authorities, are innocent people duped into accompanying the ‘genocidaires’.

“No one pushed me out of Burundi”, says Murerangabo. “When our mayor visited the camp and brought with him people that we had been told were dead, I concluded that we had been lied to”, he adds.

Other returnees agree with Murerangabo. “We returned in broad day light. We had a choice to come or not to”, says Maria Uwimana.

But some in Rwanda disagree. “Clearly you can’t expect a villager to go against the party line”, says Charles Kabonero, editor of one of the biggest newspapers in Rwanda, Umuseso. “The limited freedom of expression enjoyed by journalists and the elite doesn’t extend to villagers. They were told by authorities that the repatriation was voluntary, that is all they can repeat now”, he adds.

Reporting on the arrival of truckloads of refugees last week, state television described the asylum seekers as “eager to return to their country”. It said they had been “scrambling” to get on the trucks (provided by Rwandan authorities) heading home.

For many refugees that sold off all or part of their properties prior to their departure, settling in again has been even more difficult.

“We are looking into ways of getting back their properties. They sold it off very cheaply and sometime illegally”, says Innocent Rubayija, deputy mayor of Gikonko district (Butare province), one of the most severely affected areas.

Local authorities have also called on residents to help their returning neighbours with food and other household needs. It has worked in some areas where people have offered free foodstuffs to returnees.

The toughest part may be when Gacaca courts in these areas convene. With state media now describing many of the asylum seekers as genocide fugitives, the courts, presided over by community members, will have a challenge in how to handle the returnees.

“Many of those who fled are genocidaires”, says André Hakizimana, head of police in Gikonko. “But they also fled with their families, with their children and other innocent people”.

“We have tried to make it clear to all people here that one doesn’t become a criminal simply for fleeing to Burundi and seeking asylum. I think judges and the community will handle this diligently. They know the truth. Everyone who stayed (in Rwanda) knows the truth”, adds the police chief.

Murerangabo agrees: “I have no problem returning to the hearings. We have been well received by everyone”, he says, while peeling dry mud from his fingers.

Still, it may take some time before he can comfortably mix with his neighbours again.

GG