By Erasme Rugemintwaza
The Rwandan government has just accepted the United States’ request to grant temporary asylum to Afghans fleeing their country after the Talibans took power. It’s a sort of SOS distress message given by the United States to its friends, but relayed by Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. There is a great need of human compassion!
Apart from Rwanda, more than thirty countries around the world have responded yes to this distress message because the occupation of Afghanistan by the Talibans on August 15, 2021, caused a real humanitarian disaster, if we look at the terrifying images of the fleeing populations and especially the vendetta which risks causing a bloodbath.
Rwandan Government spokesperson Yolande Makolo simply said that “Rwanda initially accepted the United States’ request”. But she added that more information will be released later after the two sides’ negotiations.
This August 21, 2021, the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken, communicated the list of 13 countries which have agreed to give transitional asylum to evacuated Afghans who do not yet meet the eligibility criteria for residence in the United States. To this list is added another of 12 countries which includes Rwanda and Uganda in the east African region.
The evacuation of 15,000 Americans and more than 60,000 Afghan collaborators has saturated American military bases in the region but also caused a great logistical crisis for the United States, which mobilized more than 18 military cargoes. The evacuation is complicated and there are high risks of human losses because not only it must not exceed August 31, 2021 but also the situation is highly flammable.
In the meantime, the Kabul airport, where these fugitives are crowded, is protected by the Americans, the Germans and the English special forces, but at anytime, the security cordon can be invaded and destroyed by the Talibans, who have an irascible anger against the Americans who ousted them from power, 20 years ago.
It should be noted that Rwanda has already given the asylum to several refugees in a very critical situation, such as the Libyan immigrants, received in 2017. But Kagame’s humanitarianism is still under a condition that everyone knows: money!
And this time the European Union or the West in general is more than ever under the test: either humanitarian or immigration!
