Gihembe refugee camp was established in December 1997 to host survivors of the Mudende Massacre. Mudende was a refugee camp in western Rwanda hosting Congolese refugees from eastern DRC. In August and again in December of 1997, armed groups from DRC crossed the border and attacked the camp – murdering hundreds of refugees. Today, 99% of the refugees in Gihembe are Mudende massacre survivors.

Of the three traditional durable solutions, resettlement remains the most viable for the majority of refugees in Gihembe. In 2012, the U.S. Government partnered with UNHCR Rwanda to resettle the survivors to the U.S. through a group identification methodology, the Priority 2 (P2) group processing modality, to expedite the process. The first P2 group aimed at resettling 10,000 survivors was successfully completed two years ahead of time.