UNHCR suspends operations at Gasorwe camp after skirmish

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has suspended its activities at Gasorwe Camp in Burundi's northeastern province of Muyinga after protests at the facility turned violent. The agency said it would not resume operations until Burundi's security forces had completely restored order. "We want security guaranties for [UNHCR] agents," Catherine Lune-Grayson, the UNHCR public relations officer, said on Thursday. Grayson said the violence began on Tuesday, when a Burundian man, his wife and their three children went to the camp to seek refugee status. When the UNHCR agent, who determined that their claim was invalid denied the request, the family prevented the agent from leaving the UNHCR office. Some of the Congolese refugees then joined in, and the situation became violent when people began throwing stones, damaging several UNHCR vehicles. There were no injuries. Police from the nearby town of Muyinga quickly intervened and arrested the Burundian family. The police are still investigating the cause of the violence. A UN official, who requested anonymity, said the refugees were now fending for themselves as no humanitarian organisation could enter the camp until the completion of the investigation. Gasorwe Camp currently hosts 8,730 mostly Congolese refugees, many of whom were transferred from the Cishemere Transit Camp in the northwestern province of Cibitoke. Northern Burundi also hosts at least 19,000 Rwandan asylum seekers, many of whom are at the Songore Transit Camp in Ngozi Province. The Burundian government said on 10 April it would deny most of them status as refugees and that they would be expelled.