UN refugee chief visiting

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, is on a two-day visit to Bujumbura as part of a regional tour aimed at adopting a general strategy to cope with the refugee problem, Burundi radio reported on Sunday. “My visit here is of course to talk about the activities of the HCR,” he told the radio. “As you know there are many Burundi refugees. There are plans underway to start repatriation exercises.” Lubbers, who visited Burundian refugees in camps in Tanzania before arriving in Bujumbura, said there was an “intense need and will” to find a solution to the problem. He said the return of the refugees and displaced people to their villages “is not only a political necessity, but it is also a humanitarian priority”. He added that UNHCR was working with the Tanzanian authorities, the police, the military and the refugees themselves to “arrive at a situation where there are no weapons in the camps”.