Congolese refugees demonstrate against "inadequate" food

Some 3,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) living in a refugee camp in Muyinga Province, northern Burundi, stoned vehicles belonging to an NGO on Saturday during a demonstration against what they termed poor human conditions, the privately owned Radio Isanganiro reported. The refugees at the Gasorwe refugee camp said the monthly ration of 10 kg of beans and three kg of maize meal was insufficient. They stoned vehicles belonging to African Humanitarian Action, an NGO operating in the camp. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the capital, Bujumbura, told IRIN on Monday that food aid for the refugees had greatly decreased due to lack of donor funds for humanitarian agencies that distribute aid to refugees. An estimated 10,000 Congolese refugees fled into Burundi in October 2002 from Uvira, eastern DRC, following fighting between Mayi-Mayi militia and the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie rebel group. Subsequently, two refugee camps were set up in Cibitoke Province, northwestern Burundi, and Gasorwe in Muyinga.