260 refugees return home through new border crossing

Some 260 refugees from camps in Tanzania have returned to Burundi via the northeastern border point at Gahumo, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported on Wednesday. It said this was the first convoy it had organised to enter the country through this newly opened border crossing in Cankuzo Province. The agency reported that the eight-truck convoy rolled across the border on Monday escorted by a Tanzanian delegation headed by the Kibondo District Commissioner. The governor of Burundi’s Cankuzo Province, Rubuka Aloys, met them at Gahumo. UNHCR reported that 161 of the refugees came from camps in Kibondo, western Tanzania, and 99 others from Ngara to the northwest. It said some 1,500 Burundian refugees in Kibondo District had signed up for voluntary repatriation via Gahumo. The agency said the Gahumo/Murusagamba crossing was now the second official entry point for UNHCR-assisted returns from Tanzania. Since March 2002, UNHCR has used the Kobero border crossing in northeast Burundi, through which it has assisted the return of nearly 50,000 Burundian refugees. [Full UNHCR story on www.unhcr.ch]