Some 4,800 families displaced in Rushubi - authorities

Some 4,800 families have been displaced in Rushubi town in Isare District, in Bujumbura Rural, east of Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, a humanitarian source reported local authorities as saying on Wednesday.

This figure applied to the displacement which started on Monday after a clash between the Burundian army and rebels, the source said, noting that it was additional to the 1,800 families displaced in Rushubi since January.

"Not the United Nations nor the nongovernmental organisations [NGOs] could reach these people even today [Wednesday] because of the security situation in that area," Helena Mazarro, Humanitarian Affairs Officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told IRIN. "The authorities have said that these people are now living with other families or in schools and they [authorities] are requesting for assistance for them," she said.

She said UN agencies and the NGOs were preparing relief materials for these people. "We hope that tomorrow [Thursday] or the day after tomorrow [Friday] the relief agencies will be able to reach them. Otherwise, it is going to be very difficult for them," Mazarro added.

An assessment planned for the area was also on hold, due to the security situation, she noted. The number of casualties or people wounded in the battle since Monday remains unclear.

Despite the installation of a transitional government in November last year, fighting has continued in various parts of Burundi. The latest round of fighting resumed on 11 March and has caused the temporary displacement of thousands of people.