Thousands flee fighting in Burundi to Tanzania

UNHCR last week said armed conflict and house burning had driven about 24,000 Burundians to Tanzania since 1 January. It said refugees interviewed at the border reported continued fighting between the Burundi army and the rebel forces. "Most of the refugees are women and children who say the men are either arrested or disappear while participating in compulsory night neighbourhood patrols organised by the military," the agency told journalists at UN headquarters in New York. "Many of the newly arriving children suffer from malnourishment and malaria, evidence that the food and health situations in Burundi appear to be precarious," UNHCR said. It said that as of 31 January it is assisting 440,000 refugees in Tanzania of whom 330,000 are Burundian, 101,000 Congolese and 20,000 Rwandan.