Burundi-DRC: Thousands of Refugees Still Arriving in Burundi - UNHCR
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UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
June 11, 2004
Posted to the web June 11, 2004
Nairobi
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has dispatched a
four-member team to the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and
Burundi to assess reports of recent arrivals in Burundi of thousands of refugees from
the DRC, the agency said in a report issued on Thursday.
Local authorities in Burundi's Gatumba, Rugombo and Cibitoke areas told UNHCR that
"several thousand" refugees had entered the country since Wednesday. UNHCR said
initial feedback from the team indicated that, in Gatumba alone, 1,000 new refugees
had already arrived, with more arriving daily.
Gatumba is in northwestern Burundi at the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika on the
border with the DRC. Rugombo and Cibitoke are also on the border, but further to the
north. Most of the refugees had crossed into Burundi following fighting in the Uvira
area of eastern DRC, UNHCR said.
It also reported that no new arrivals from the DRC had been reported in Rwanda in the
last two days. "Rwanda closed its border with DRC on Sunday [6 June], but has assured
UNHCR that refugees will still be allowed to cross," it said.
The refugee agency noted that nearly 2,700 refugees had been registered for assistance
in Rwanda since the outbreak of fighting in the Congolese town of Bukavu on 26 May.
UNHCR was providing shelter for 1,191 people at the Nyagatare transit centre, the
remaining refugees having chosen to stay with local families and friends, it added.
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UNHCR went on to report that its partner, the American Refugee Committee, had begun
working to expand the Nyagatare centre to accommodate an additional 1,000 people.
Moreover, extra supplies such as food rations, high-energy biscuits, blankets and
plastic sheeting had been moved into the site for immediate distribution, the agency
added.
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