UN refugee agency prepares camp for thousands of asylum seekers

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is expanding a transit site at Musasa in northern Burundi to accommodate thousands of Rwandans seeking refuge in the country, an agency official said on Friday. Some 2,000 people have arrived in the northern provinces of Ngozi, Muyinga and Kirundo since December 2005, bringing the number of Rwandan asylum seekers in Burundi to an estimated 8,000, said Didier Bukuru, the UNHCR information officer in the capital, Bujumbura. He said the agency was planning the first transfer of the asylum seekers from the border area to Musasa, in Ngozi, by 15 January. The agency was augmenting its facilities there to welcome the asylum seekers. Thousands of asylum seekers live in informal sites in the northern provinces, with 2,700 at Rwisuri in Kirundo; 900 at Mugano in Muyinga; 2,900 at Musasa in Ngozi; and 845 at Songore, also in Ngozi. All asylum seekers either in informal sites or at the Musasa camp had received food and nonfood aid, Bukuru said. In June 2005, most of the Rwandan asylum seekers were repatriated, but many of them returned to Burundi later in the year. Bukuru said the influx of Rwandans had increased since the start of the new year. "Between 1 January and 3 January, some 300 have arrived in Ngozi Province," he said. Rwandans started arriving in northern Burundi in April 2005, saying they were fleeing the persecution of traditional "gacaca" courts, or village tribunals which were set up to try members of local communities for crimes committed during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Bukuru declined to comment on the reasons why the Rwandans were crossing into Burundi, saying it was better to wait for the findings of a technical joint commission between the Burundi government and UNHCR. The commission, which is comprised of experts from the Burundi government and UNHCR, would "examine individual cases and determine if a Rwandan asylum seeker is eligible for the status of refugee or not", Col Didace Nzikoruriho, the head of the technical commission, said. The commission has been working together since December 2005. Nzikoruriho did not say when the team would release its report.