Kigali, 13 January 2009 (FH) – Out of the 309,368 survivors of 1994 genocide still alive, more than one third are impoverished and need assistance, according to a report by the Rwandan government.
They are primarily orphans and widows numbering 119,385, according to the secretariat of state for social affairs.
These figures were made public last week at the close of recent census carried out jointly with survivor associations.
The government needed reliable figures to better direct its assistance through the fund to assist the neediest survivors (FARG).
The new census came to correct the preceding lists of impoverished survivors of which included people who did not enter into this category, observed the secretariat of state charged with social affairs.
According to the latest report, it is the South Province which counts the greatest number of impoverished survivors (43, 481 people).
In addition, 51% of children who survived the genocide stopped their schooling, because of poverty.
Directed against ethnic Tutsis, the genocide, from April to July 1994, resulted, according to the UN, in nearly 800,000 killed.
AI/ER/MMSC/GF
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