More than 890 children reunited with their families in Bujumbura

Some 890 children separated during recent fighting in the Burundian capital of Bujumbura have been reunited with their families, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported on Monday. With the support of Burundian NGOs Arche de Noe (Noah's Ark), the Association pour la Promotion des Desherites du Burundi (APRODEBU) and the Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO), some 898 of a total 965 children have been returned to their families, while efforts were continuing to reunite the remaining 67 children, UNICEF said. Rebels loyal to Agathon Rwasa, leader of a faction of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) movement, staged a series of attacks on the capital's southern suburbs from 7 to 13 July, causing the deaths of some 325 fighters, the Burundian army reported, and displacing tens of thousands of civilians. Methods used to speed the reunification process included radio announcements, posters in displaced persons camps and other public areas, and site-to-site searches, UNICEF reported. It added that in collaboration with TPO, psychosocial support was being provided to displaced persons with the aid of local NGOs such as the Centre d'Ecoute et d'Appui Psychologique and Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services.