Second Lugufu refugee camp "on hold"

A second refugee camp that had been proposed for Lugufu in the Kigoma region of western Tanzania to ease what was described as "serious overcrowding" at the existing Lugufu facility has been put "on hold" for the moment after a recent re-registration exercise identified fewer camp residents than had earlier been recorded, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told IRIN on Wednesday. Preliminary UNHCR figures from the late August registration and verification exercise revised downwards from 63,300 to 42,823 the refugee population at Lugufu - the figures having been inflated by repeat registrations. The Federation, which had appealed for some US $1.2 million for an extension to Lugufu to ease overcrowding and tension in the main camp, has temporarily shelved the plan but could have 'Lugufu 2' operational within two weeks if the need arose, a Federation official said.