Transfer of DRC refugees from Bangui begins

Responding to the arrival in the CAR capital, Bangui, of an estimated 6,000 DRC refugees in the past three weeks, UNHCR has started a process of decongesting the city by moving groups of refugees to Bou Bou, a site 350 km away. A first convoy of 500 refugees left late last week and UNHCR plans to move 5,000 Congolese over the next two weeks, according to a briefing note by the agency, received by IRIN on Tuesday. It added that UNHCR has not been involved in discussions between Bangui and the DRC on some several thousand soldiers among a total of 14,000 to 15,000 Congolese who have entered the country in recent weeks. Members of the UN Security Council on Monday warned that the arrival of the Congolese, some of them armed, threatened to destabilise a fragile situation in Bangui and throughout the country. It called on all concerned to respect the civilian and humanitarian nature of refugee camps.