Rwandans to be moved closer to own border

Some 3,500 Rwandans in northern Burundi who the government has labelled "illegal immigrants" will soon be moved to a temporary camp 30 km from the Rwandan border, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday. "It's the only choice that the government offered us," Catherine-Lune Grayson, the UNHCR spokeswomen in Bujumbura, told IRIN. She was referring to the planned transit site, which is to be located in Musasa Zone in the northern province of Ngozi and which UNHCR is set to begin erecting next week. She said part of the site was expected to be ready by December and another part by January. Many of the Rwandans say they want to remain in Burundi for fear of persecution in Rwanda. Once moved to Musasa Camp, they will again be close to Rwanda but Grayson said UNHCR expected the government of Burundi to ensure their safety. The director of refugees in the Ministry of Interior and Public Security, Col Didace Nzikoruriho, told IRIN on Thursday that the Rwandans were only being moved closer to the border "because of a lack of space" elsewhere in Burundi. Currently the Rwandans are living in informal sites in Mivo Zone in Ngozi as well as at Rwisuri in the northeastern province of Kirundo. Grayson said their living conditions were inadequate but that UNHCR could not improve infrastructure, as they were not staying at government designated transit camps. The Rwandans started arriving in Burundi in April. Many said the newly created local courts known as "Gacaca" were persecuting them. In June, some 6,000 of them were repatriated but many returned to Burundi soon after. On 7 November, Rwandan and Burundian officials issued a joint communiqué reclassifying the Rwandans as illegal. Nzikoruriho said that once the Rwandans had moved to the Musasa Transit Camp the government would again review their status.