Thousands of refugees still arriving in Burundi - UNHCR

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has dispatched a four-member team to the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Burundi to assess reports of recent arrivals in Burundi of thousands of refugees from the DRC, the agency said in a report issued on Thursday. Local authorities in Burundi's Gatumba, Rugombo and Cibitoke areas told UNHCR that "several thousand" refugees had entered the country since Wednesday. UNHCR said initial feedback from the team indicated that, in Gatumba alone, 1,000 new refugees had already arrived, with more arriving daily. Gatumba is in northwestern Burundi at the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika on the border with the DRC. Rugombo and Cibitoke are also on the border, but further to the north. Most of the refugees had crossed into Burundi following fighting in the Uvira area of eastern DRC, UNHCR said. It also reported that no new arrivals from the DRC had been reported in Rwanda in the last two days. "Rwanda closed its border with DRC on Sunday [6 June], but has assured UNHCR that refugees will still be allowed to cross," it said. The refugee agency noted that nearly 2,700 refugees had been registered for assistance in Rwanda since the outbreak of fighting in the Congolese town of Bukavu on 26 May. UNHCR was providing shelter for 1,191 people at the Nyagatare transit centre, the remaining refugees having chosen to stay with local families and friends, it added. UNHCR went on to report that its partner, the American Refugee Committee, had begun working to expand the Nyagatare centre to accommodate an additional 1,000 people. Moreover, extra supplies such as food rations, high-energy biscuits, blankets and plastic sheeting had been moved into the site for immediate distribution, the agency added.