UNHCR details refugee movements

Between January and April around 14,000 Rwandans returned to the northwest of the country from North Kivu, UNHCR’s June fact sheet quotes the Rwandan authorities as saying. Thousands more could follow. The returnees told UNHCR in Rwanda that local officials in eastern DRC had warned them to go back home, and that the relative calm which now prevails in northwest Rwanda had encouraged them to do so. Rebel authorities in the DRC have warned of renewed military sweeps in the area.

The stream of Congolese from eastern DRC to Tanzania is perhaps the most regular flow of refugees anywhere on the continent at present, the fact sheet also detailed. Almost daily since last August, boats have ferried hundreds of refugees away from the conflict opposing Kinshasa and rebels to the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. Refugees are paying boat owners for passage. The number of new Congolese refugees had reached 62,000 by the end of May.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Burundi refugees are repatriating each week from Tanzania, UNHCR said. Between January and April, 4,978 Burundians returned to their homes, mostly in the eastern provinces of Muyinga, Ruyigi, Rutana and Cankuzo, despite rebel infiltrations into eastern Burundi from Tanzania. A tripartite meeting on the repatriation planned for late March was postponed after Bujumbura sent Dar es Salaam a “note verbale” on the clashes.