Rwanda's island drug rehab centre or reform prison?
Sowetan - 4 hours ago
By Sapa-AFP | 2014-08-05 09:11:13.0
Surrounded by glittering waters, Rwanda's remote Iwawa island appears
idyllic, but it has housed thousands of drug users, as well as
reputedly those the authoritarian government deems unsuitable for
society.
Isaac Mugange was an alcoholic and heavy smoker of cannabis, but the
24-year computer technician was sent to the Iwawa Rehabilitation and
Vocational Training Centre, a tiny island in the vast waters of Lake
Kivu, to wean himself off drugs.
"A family council decided to send me here to rehabilitation, and I
agreed," said the young man, who comes from a wealthy background. His
large eyes are still reddened by years of abuse.
The jungle-clad island ringed by beaches could appear at times like a
holiday camp.
But it has a darker reputation: on the mainland, Iwawa is spoken of by
some as a "Guantanamo" or "Alcatraz", a reference to the infamous US
prisons.
Critics say Iwawa, officially set up to help drug addicts, also houses
beggars, homeless people, street children and petty criminals -- or
anyone who might taint the clean image Rwanda seeks to promote.
Rwanda's tough leaders have sought to rebuild a society left in ruins
after the 1994 genocide, pouring energy into creating an orderly
nation with smooth roads, efficient administration and tight security
-- efforts that critics say can also go too far, suppressing dissent.
Like nearly 2,000 others aged between 18 and 35, Mugange spent a year
on the island some 28 kilometres (17 miles) from the mainland of
southwestern Rwanda. After six months attending sessions with a
psychologist, he is now learning carpentry.
Rwandan authorities insist it is a drug detox and rehabilitation
centre, not a detention island or prison.
"This centre is a training school that helps youths, first to get rid
of drugs, but also to develop professional skills that can help them
earn a living... and become a solution for the government rather than
a burden," said Servilien Bizimana, deputy director of the centre.
In a workshop nearby, Mugange and 20 companions cut and sand down
wood. Behind a basketball court, dozens of youths sitting under shade
trees listen to lessons on hygiene.
Others wait at the health centre to be circumcised, as part of a
government program aimed to reduce the risk of AIDS.
The centre's leaders insist all residents are on the island voluntarily.
While the government "reserves the right to help the addicts" by
sending them to Iwawa, centre coordinator Nicolas Niyongabo said they
are all still free to leave the island if they wish.
But in Rwanda's capital Kigali, one former resident insists that
several escape attempts resulted in drowning. The centre's management
says two people drowned due to swimming accidents in 2013.
On the island, Olivier, a man in his 30s, admits to being a drug
addict and alcoholic.
"I was arrested by police in Kigali. I was drunk and I didn't have my
papers," he said, sitting at a sewing machine.
"I want so much to go to Kigali... my wife does not know where I have
been for the past five months, because I do not know the phone
number."
Centre residents are allowed to make telephone calls and receive
visits, but many families are not informed when their relatives are
sent to the island, often on simple administrative orders without
legal processes.
Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye said courts were not needed
"to make that kind of decision", but doctors and psychologists on the
basis of risk and the chance of rehabilitation.
Jean-Claude Rushinga, 24, has spent five months on the island. He
denies being an addict, claiming instead to have been a unlicensed
street hawker selling clothes.
"I was selling clothes and the police caught me," he said, adding
philosophically he had since accepted his exile.
"I said to myself, for once in my life after all, I am going to learn
something."
But Niyongabo insists the man is in denial.
"The state spends a lot of money each year on the centre" for drug
addicts, and does not deal with simple street vendors, he said.
Nonetheless Rwanda has admitted that last year it sent more then 280
alleged army deserters to be "re-educated" at the site.
Security on the island is provided by the army, although no soldier
was seen during the visit by AFP.
And the management denies any mistreatment of residents.
But in Kigali, several former residents complained of severe
military-style discipline and corporal punishment.
"There was terrible punishments -- caning, walking in a crouched
position, you lie on the ground and water is poured on you," a former
resident told AFP, asking not to be named.
"I think it is good that the Iwawa centre exists, but it should reduce
the punishment," the young man said, who added that he believes his
stay enabled him to stop drugs and resume his studies.
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