- Title: "A better life somewhere else": Europe-bound African migrants wait in Rwanda
- Date: 24th October 2019
- Summary: GASHORA, RWANDA (OCTOBER 23, 2019) (REUTERS) MEN AND CHILDREN IN CENTRE MAN SEATED SIGN "EMERGENCY TRANSIT MECHANISM" TWO WOMEN WALKING MEN PLAYING VOLLEYBALL VARIOUS OF ASYLUM-SEEKER FROM SUDAN, ABDULLAH RODWAN, PLAYING VOLLEYBALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) REFUGEE FROM SUDAN, ABDULLAH RODWAN, 18, SAYING: "We need to go out, we need to go out to Europe because it is our destination, all of us because, now we got a chance to evacuate (for us) to Rwanda, thanks for that. But now all of us we are waiting for another state, when the next is coming. We are all waiting for resettlement, for a better life in Europe, America or Canada wherever. Just, we, we just need to go. You know in Africa, I hear some, they give a chance to live in Africa. We know Africa today is good but tomorrow is easily it's gonna be bad, we don't know... that is why we are looking for the better life in another countries." MORE OF RODWAN PLAYING VOLLEYBALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) REFUGEE FROM SUDAN, ABDULLAH RODWAN, 18, SAYING: "All of us we are looking for another state because we are already worry about... we are thinking about the day from when we will go out of the African continent (audio of reporter asking: That's your dream?) "Yeah, our dream for everyone here, especially for us all, we need to go out." MAN REFUGEES SEATED MAN WITH HEADPHONES ON FEMALE ASYLUM-SEEKERS GATHERED WITH UNHCR OFFICIALS FEMALE ASYLUM-SEEKERS UNHCR SPOKESWOMAN IN RWANDA, ELISE VILLECHALANE, WITH FEMALE REFUGEES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ELISE VILLECHALANE, UNHCR SPOKESWOMAN IN RWANDA, SAYING: "We have a room there where they can watch TV and check news, and very soon we would like to have access to computer so that they can have access to you know talk to their family using internet. Access to connectivity offers so much opportunities in terms of communication with family, learning and also know what is happening out there in the world, because they have been outside of social networks for a long time." ETHIOPIAN ASYLUM-SEEKER GEBREMIKAEL AYELENE WALKING AYELENE SPEAKING TO UNHCR OFFICIAL (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) GEBREMIKAEL AYELENE, ETHIOPIAN REFUGEE, SAYING: "Really I appreciate the government of Rwanda and people of Rwanda of hosting us here and receiving us at this place but I don't have any intention or plan to stay here." MAN HOLDING UP UMBRELLA FOR WOMAN CARRYING BABY MORE OF WOMEN SEATED
- Embargoed: 7th November 2019 07:22
- Keywords: Rwanda refugees migrants asylum Libya UNHCR
- Location: GASHORA, RWANDA
- City: GASHORA, RWANDA
- Country: Rwanda
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B2GI1JB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The United Nations emergency transit centre in Gashora, Rwanda is home to 189 people who have fled their homes in Africa in search of a better life in Europe.
The men, women, single mothers, unaccompanied children and families took their dangerous journey from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia and ended up in Libya where authorities are trying to close the route to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.
Many of them speak about the horrors they suffered in the hands of smugglers and traffickers and later the inhumane conditions they experienced in detention centres in war-torn Libya.
In September, the UNHCR signed a deal with Rwanda to resettle them while the agency determines their status and where they will be resettled.
A few weeks ago, asylum-seekers like Sudanese Abdullah Rodwan, who left his home in Darfur, arrived via a U.N.-chartered flight in Kigali.
He says he is grateful to Rwanda for hosting them but he knows where he wants to end up: Europe, America or Canada. Anywhere but Africa.
"We need to go out, we need to go out to Europe because it is our destination, all of us because, now we got a chance to evacuate (for us) to Rwanda, thanks for that. But now all of us we are waiting for another state, when the next is coming. We are all waiting for resettlement, for a better life in Europe, America or Canada wherever. Just, we, we just need to go. You know in Africa, I hear some, they give a chance to live in Africa. We know Africa today is good but tomorrow is easily it's gonna be bad, we don't know... that is why we are looking for the better life in another countries," Rodwan said.
For now Rwanda, which at one time in 1994 had over 2 million of its citizens displaced after a genocide, is home to these asylum-seekers.
The UNHCR said around 3,000 migrants are still thought to be in detention in Libya.
Another 120 are expected to arrive next month in the tiny central African nation. Thousands of people, many from African countries, have drowned trying to cross the sea to Europe.
(Production: Themistocle Hakizimana/Jackson Njehia) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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