IGIHE has learnt from credible sources that these refugees in the 5th batch will land in Kigali around 9pm from where they will be tested for COVID-19 before temporary accommodation at hotels as they wait for results.

After receiving test results, they will be taken to Gashora Transit Camp located in Bugesera district where the four previous batches are accommodated.

Rwanda signed agreements to host refugees stranded in Libya on 10th September 2019 with the African Union (AU) and UNHCR.

The previous batch comprised of 79 refugees and asylum seekers arrived in Rwanda on 19th November 2020.

So far, Rwanda has received 385 refugees and asylum seekers in four batches.

Some of them have been already granted refugee status in foreign countries including 131 taken to Sweden, 23 granted refuge in Canada, 46 in Norway while 5 others were granted refuge in France.

Rwanda made the commitment to host refugees from Libya in 2017 following revelations that thousands of people from across Africa were stranded in the country after their failure to reach Europe and subjected to slavery.

Rwanda committed to receiving 500 refugees at the head first of whom a group of 66 African refugees and asylum-seekers from Libya arrived in Rwanda at the end of September 2019 in the first batch aboard the airplane of Buraq Air.

All the previous batches were all accommodated at Gashora transit camp in Bugesera district which previously hosted thousands of Burundian refugees since 2015 before they were relocated to other sites.

Rwanda has already received 385 refugees and asylum seekers in four batches.