UN begins separating civilian, military refugees

Sixty-five former soldiers from the Central African Republic (CAR) were transferred from a border town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to a camp farther inland on Tuesday in the first phase of an operation designed to maintain the civilian character of refugee sites, UN News reported.

The UNHCR, which requested the transfer, has insisted on separating the more than 24,000 civilian refugees and the 1,250 former soldiers who had fled the CAR during an attempted coup in May, UN News reported. The civilian nature of the camps, the UNHCR said, would ensure the safety of the refugees and surrounding host populations.

The former CAR soldiers were taken by truck Monday from the border town of Zongo to a site at Bokilio, 120 km inland, UN News reported. The operation was scheduled to continue Wednesday with the transfer of between 400 and 600 persons by UN peacekeepers to the new site, it said. Truck convoys were scheduled to make the 24-hour trip every two days, completing the transfer of up to 2,500 people within 10 days, it added. Those physically unable to make the overland trip will be transferred by helicopter. A doctor from an NGO was accompanying each convoy, it said.

Peacekeepers from the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC) registered the group of former soldiers and their families and secured their agreement for the move to the new site at Bokilio. Once the former soldiers have been moved, UNHCR said it would begin the transfer of the civilian refugees to a new site being prepared further inland at Mole, UN news reported.