Hutu refugees fear forced return to Rwanda

[April 19, 2013]  NAKIVALE, Uganda (AP) -- Nearly two decades after the Rwandan genocide, thousands of refugees living in a camp in Uganda say they fear being forced to return to their home country.

The ethnic Hutu refugees told The Associated Press from a refugee camp in Nakivale, Uganda, that they consider Rwanda unsafe for them.

Uganda hosts thousands of Rwandan refugees. But 8,000 Rwandans will cease being refugees with legal protection in just over two months. Hutu refugees say they fear reprisal attacks by Tutsis inside Rwanda. During the 1994 genocide, at least 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in a campaign of mass murder orchestrated by Hutu extremists.

Rwanda's government said in a statement Friday that refugees who hesitate to return home lack information on the current situation in Rwanda.

[Associated Press; By RODNEY MUHUMUZA]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.