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A total 522 of the Burundians who began fleeing into neighbouring Rwanda since October 2004 have returned home in vehicles provided by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
"We feel good about returning now that peace has been restored," a woman refugee said upon arriving at the border camp of Songore in the northern province of Ngozi.
Hundreds of other Burundian refugees in Rwanda have been returning since June. Many said they had feared political violence in the build up to Burundi’s elections.
UNHCR and Burundi's leading human rights organisation, Iteka, will monitor the reintegration of the refugees who returned to ensure they are protected, UNHCR Public Information Assistant Didier Bukuru said.
The government and aid organisations are providing the returnees food, kitchen utensils and farming tools to help them restart their lives. The African Development Bank is providing money for vegetable seeds for the returnees, the minister for resettlement of refugees, Francoise Ngendahayo, said on Friday.
The refugees had been in camps of Gikoho and Nyamure in Rwanda’s Butare Province, Ngendahayo said. She had gone to Rwanda last week to persuade the refugees to return home.
UNHCR said the refugees spend just one night at the border transit site and were then taken to their villages of origin, in the provinces of Ngozi, Kirundo, Muyinga and Karuzi..
Around 5,000 refugees remain in Rwanda, according to UNHCR.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
