ARC began work in Rwanda in December 1994, following the genocide that claimed the lives of more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In July 1994, an army of exiled Tutsis swept through the country, ending the genocide and causing nearly 2 million refugees to flee, mostly to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Most of these refugees have since been repatriated to Rwanda, but thousands of perpetrators of the genocide and other armed militias continue to terrorize civilians living in the eastern DRC. ARC currently serves 45,000 Congolese Tutsis who have fled to Rwanda from this conflict.

Milestones:

In 2005, the government of Rwanda asked ARC to build a refugee camp at Nyabiheke to accommodate 5,000 new refugees from the DRC. ARC quickly constructed roads, bridges, shelters, latrines, storage warehouses, and health centers, and began receiving refugees within a month of the request. The culminating achievement of the construction efforts was the drilling of a borehole to tap an aquifer, which provides 100,000 liters of naturally purified, filtered water per day. In the fall of 2007, ARC expanded Nyabiheke Camp to receive 2,000 more people fleeing increased violence.

In 2006, ARC worked with UNICEF and UNHCR to build preschools and primary schools for refugee children in ARC's camps. ARC launched new HIV/AIDS treatment, awareness and prevention programs in Nyabiheke and Gihembe camps. And we continued our income generation and vocational training programs in all three ARC refugee camps in Rwanda.

Current Activities:

In 2010 and beyond, ARC will continue to provide essential health care, water and sanitation, infrastructure and income generation opportunities in the camps. If conditions can stabilize in the DRC, prospects for repatriation will improve dramatically for the Congolese refugees in Rwanda. ARC is exploring the possibility of new interventions to help refugees return home in the event of peace in the DRC.