Fifteen years after the genocide, Rwandans are plagued by a lack of viable food sustainability throughout the country. Rather than depending on Uganda’s food rations, women farmers in Rwanda have been planting their own gardens in Uganda. But with dwindling financial security in Ugandan communities, the women are abandoning their crops and moving back to Rwanda, making them likely to suffer more hunger and poverty. Moses Crispus Okello, head of research and advocacy at the Refugee Law Project, a nongovernmental organization in Kampala says, “There is a real chance of disempowering Rwandan women when they return home.” The UN has professed that moving back to Rwanda should be a voluntary action, but many women are stating otherwise. The female farmers have been forced to flee their established camps or move back to Rwanda by a predetermined date, July 31^st. The UN has been negotiating what to do about increasing hostility between the Ugandan and Rwandan governments. George Kuchio, senior protection officer at the U.N.’s office for refugees in Kampala says, “We’ve had discussions with the Ugandan government and said they should be left to cultivate…They shouldn’t be stopped from cultivation and can remain here.” The UN refugee agency still promises to give adequate food rations to Rwandans, yet both the Rwandan and Ugandan governments have said that provisions of food and land will be taken away if the women farmers do not move back to Rwanda by the set date. This seems to be a never-ending issue as more farmers are fleeing and the discussions become more torrid. The cyclical problem seems to be worsening as, “…many refugees who tried to return to Rwanda have been forced back to Uganda because they were unable to cope with the hunger and loss of livelihood in Rwanda.” Reports that the food rations are too small have also presented problems for families with multiple children.

Source: “Pushed to Return to Rwanda, Women Farmers Uprooted” – by Rebecca Harshbarger, WeNews correspondent (http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/4089)