UN agency moves 500 Congolese refugees away from border

Some 500 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who crossed into northwestern Burundi in November have been moved inland from the border area in Cibitoke Province to Gasorwe transit camp in Muyinga Province in the northeast, an official of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday. UNHCR would continue transferring all who were willing to go to Gasorwe, UNHCR's public relations officer in Burundi, Catherine-Lune Grayson, told IRIN. The Congolese refugees told Burundian officials they had fled their country following fighting there between the Congolese army and militia groups known as the Mayi-Mayi. Most of the refugees came from the Ruvunge and Kamanyola areas of eastern DRC. Cibitoke Governor Samson Ndayizeye said the refugees started arriving in the province in November. He said some had fled their homes because of widespread looting and rape. About 68 families were still in Cibitoke awaiting transfer to Gasorwe, Ndayizeye said. He added that they are living in difficult conditions, sleeping in schools, which they vacate during the day so that classes could continue. The refugees in Cibitoke urgently need food aid, he said after visiting them on Wednesday. Earlier, many refused to be moved away from the Congolese border, even if it meant not receiving UNHCR aid. They had stayed there after the border transit sites at Cishemere in Cibitoke Province and Gatumba in Bujumbura Rural Province were closed in 2004. The inland site at Gasorwe currently hosts about 6,000 Congolese refugees; about 2,000 others are in Gihinga transit site in Mwaro Province but it is said to be full to capacity. Grayson said the movement of Congolese refugees into Burundi had stopped. "The last ones arrived around 19 November," she said.