For more than two decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been marred by a long history of violence which only gets worse. The dire situation in the country causes an influx of refugees fleeing the war to neighboring countries.

By February 2023, the UN Refugee Agency reported more than one million Congolese refugees and asylum-seekers in countries bordering DRC, with nearly half of them sheltered in Uganda (479,400). Others are scattered in Burundi; (87,500) and Tanzania (80,000) and elsewhere.

Rwanda has more than 72,200, Zambia 52,100; the Republic of Congo 28,600 and Angola 23,200.

In 2022 alone, Rwanda and Uganda received more than 100,000 refugees from eastern DRC fleeing persecution and a consistent threat to their lives. The majority are Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese Tutsi.

As one of a ‘durable solution’ for these refugees who fled their homes, is the resettlement to third countries. These Congolese refugees are then resettled to Western countries like the US, Canada, and Norway, among others.

According to the US Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), in 2013, approximately 11,000 Congolese refugees arrived in the US from 36 countries. By 2018, the number was 30,000, with a new initiative to add the number.

Per year, an average of 2,000 Congolese refugees are resettled from Rwanda, and more than 1,000 have departed Uganda to the US, and Norway, respectively. Most of these refugees are Congolese Tutsi who have fled the persecution in their own country.

The resettlement of these refugees is often portrayed as a ‘humanitarian’ act, but several actors are wondering if this is really a solution to the Congolese Tutsi refugees around the world.

Congolese Tutsi refugees are fleeing their homes because of a looming Genocide. Anti-Tutsi propaganda and genocidal venom have triggered an escalation of hate speech and incitement to discrimination, killings and looting of properties belonging to Congolese Tutsi.

This persecution is often executed by a coalition of the national army, FARDC, the Rwandan genocidal militia, FDLR, local Congolese Mai Mai groups, and other negative groups.

Despite several calls made to the international community about acts of a Genocide against the Tutsi in eastern DRC, Western countries have instead resorted to investing in the relocation of the refugees to their own countries since repatriation does not appear likely for Congolese refugees anytime in the near future.

A regional political analyst who spoke to this website argued that the move looks like a policy to uproot the Tutsi community from their homeland.

She said: “The Tutsi have always been denied identity and nationality in their country; they are often told to go ‘back to their country’ the latter being Rwanda. And that’s the challenge, or problem.”

“For long, the Congolese have chased their Tutsi compatriots, often telling them to ‘go back home’, they do not want them in their country. When Western countries resettle them to their countries, they are reaffirming that there is no hope for them in their own country, DRC.”

For far too long, the international community has ignored the pleas of Congolese Tutsi, who are fighting for their lives in their own country. Resettling them without addressing the root causes of the situation they fled can only be considered a ‘consolation prize’, and the silence of these West renders them complicit.

Exploiting a crisis

Why are these Western countries more invested in resettling Congolese refugees to their countries, instead of investing in finding a lasting solution to the security crisis in their country of origin?

According to the US State Department, a minimum of $2,275 per refugee is needed to cover the costs of resettlement, meaning that the US spends over $100 million to cover the resettlement bill of Congolese refugees per year.

The number of refugees is expected to grow. When he took office, US President Joe Biden said that his administration’s target is to resettle 62,500 refugees per year.

Once they arrive in Western countries, they are offered jobs in industries, farms and construction sites, but are often paid below the minimum wage. For these countries, these refugees are much needed cheap manpower.

According to a 2021 study by the World Migration Institute, countries refugees relocate to have been criticized for inadequately supporting refugees and lack of political assistance. Then there is the refugees’ low income status which will only lengthen with their stay in host countries.

While Western countries argue that what they are doing is charitable, they are benefiting more from the scheme.

Western countries are taking advantage of the insecurity crisis in the east of DRC; they can never be invested in finding a lasting solution to the crisis as long as they are still profiteering, in one way or another.

On the other hand, the DRC government takes advantage of this scheme of resettling their own citizens to third countries.

Kinshasa sees this as an opportunity to continue failing to protect its own citizens.