The Minister of International Development of Norway, Mr. Dag Inge Ulstein and his delegation during the visit in Rwanda on 14th November, 2019 disclosed that Norway pledges to support the Emergency Transit Mechanism by providing 50 million Norwegian Krone approximately 5 million US Dollars to the mechanism and resettling refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from Libya.

The Minister Ulstein released that information during his courtesy call to the Ministry in Charge of Emergency Management. “First of all, we appreciated Rwanda’s initiative to establish the Emergency Transit Mechanism he qualified as an exemplary African leadership with African Solutions. It is a commendable work towards saving lives,” he said. “In line with these efforts, the Norwegian government has committed to support the ETM by proving 50 million Norwegian Krone approximately 5 million US Dollars and resettling to Norway some of the refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from Libya to improve their lives,” he added.

The Minister in Charge of Emergency Management, Germaine KAMAYIRESE, thanked and commended the Norwegian Government for the support to the Emergency Transit Mechanism and called upon other Nations to step in following Norway Example. “We appreciate the efforts of the Government of Norway to support the ETM through financial support as well as providing durable solutions to refugees such as resettlement. We call upon other nations to engage in backing up the ETM and finding durable solutions to evacuated refugees and asylum seekers to enable them to continue improving their welfare as far as the majority are young people ,” the Minister in Charge of Emergency Management said.

Before paying the courtesy call to the Ministry in Charge of Emergency Management, the Minister of International Cooperation, Mr. Dag Inge Ulstein , visited Gashora Transit Centre hosting refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from Libya under the ETM. 

During his Visit, he toured the centre visiting different services provided to the refugees and asylum seekers. These include the health centres, the accommodation, entertainment halls and pitches.
He further met with refugees and asylum seekers to hear testimonies on the ordeal they went through while in Libya including the mistreatment in detention centres, torture, food deprivation and in some instances electrocution.  Besides that, the Minister Ulstein provided to them foot balls to enhance their entertainment activities and took the opportunity to play football with them.

The Minister Ulstein was in Rwanda for a two days visit undertaken from 13^th -14^thNovember, 2019. The visit mainly aimed at discussing with Rwandan authorities, the possibility of Norway to support the Emergency Transit Mechanism for evacuating refugees out of Libya to safety in Rwanda and further to enhance Rwanda-Norway bilateral cooperation in different areas.