Regroupment camp dismantlement stalled

None of the nine civilian regroupment camps scheduled to be dismantled during the month of April - including Kabezi, Mageyo, Kigezi, Kavumu, Nyabibondo, Ruyaga, Muyaga, Kibuye and Kwigere - has yet been shut down, according to a recent evaluation of the sites. There had been some partial dismantlement of Kigezi and Mageyo, a UNOCHA situation report received by IRIN stated. The assessment also indicated that Ruziba, which was not in the phase two closure schedule, had been dismantled over the weekend of 6-7 May. The nine sites due for closure in phase two, account for a regrouped population of 138,637 in the communes of Isale, Mubimbi, Kanyosha and Kabezi, according to OCHA’s data.

An inter-agency assessment mission reported in April that only five regroupment camps had been dismantled in phase one. Just nine of 23 sites which the government said were dismantled in phase one had, in fact, been regroupment camps; the other 14 were camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) and not regrouped people, it said. Of the nine which were regroupment camps, five were found to have been dismantled (at Maramvya [Mutimbuzi], Gatumba, Kinonko, Gitaza and Magara), two to have been partially dismantled (Muberure and Maramvya [Mutambu] ), and two not to have been dismantled at all due to security concerns, OCHA reported. As of 1 April, the last date for which verified figures were available, some 18,200 people had left regroupment camps in Bujumbura Rural, leaving about 317,000 still on site. There were significant needs in the areas of food security, shelter, health, nutrition and livestock replenishment, but considerable work remained in identifying the different vulnerable populations (IDPs, regrouped people, returnees and those civilians who had not been displaced or regrouped) and isolating their particular short-term and development needs, OCHA added.