Undesirable: Rwanda accused of locking up poor to maintain city image

A new report from the International rights group, Human Rights Watch, claims Rwanda is unlawfully locking up beggars, sex workers and homeless people and holding them in a grim detention centre to promote the capital’s clean image. The New York-based rights group said thousands of people had been detained for up to several months without charge in “deplorable” and “filthy” conditions the Gikondo Transit Center in Kigali.

The arbitrary detention … reflects an unofficial policy of keeping people the authorities consider ‘undesirable’ away from the public eye.

HRW report, citing research including interviews with 57 former detainees.

But Rwanda’s government dismissed the claims, instead accusing HRW of wanting to “spread falsehood”,and saying drug addicts and other people were held only briefly in a transit center before going on to rehabilitation programs.  Officials added that more than 7,000 Rwandans had completed the program and were now working in carpentry, masonry, welding, tailoring, and bee-keeping, and now have a brighter future. President Paul Kagame has won praise for the economic progress the east African nation has made since the 1994 genocide when 800,000 mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

Kigali is often praised for its cleanliness and tidiness, but its poorest residents have been paying the price for this positive image.

Daniel Bekele, HRW Africa chief

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