Over 2,500 refugees cross into Tanzania

About 2,600 Burundians have been registered during the first half of August by UNHCR staff in Tanzania’s western towns of Ngara and Kigoma, the UN agency said. In a press briefing in Geneva, a UNHCR spokesman said that the refugees are crossing at an “increasing rate” despite additional military activity near the border and the alleged deployment of Burundi government soldiers to stop the movement. It said that the rate of 160 people per day was up from just over 100 per day in July, when some 3,378 refugees arrived in Tanzania, and from less than 30 per day in the month of June. UNHCR noted that monthly totals of new arrivals had been declining steadily since the beginning of the year to a low of 850 in June. Most of the new arrivals were crossing to the camps around Kibondo which is at the mid-point between Ngara and Kigoma.

A large number of refugees who managed to cross in the past month had reportedly abandoned homes in Ruyigi province after being caught up in heavy fighting between government troops and those of the rebel Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie - Forces de defense pour la democratie (CNDD-FDD). “Gunfire and explosions are regularly heard from Tanzania’s border districts,” UNHCR said. It quoted refugees as saying that at the end of July, in several villages around the town of Gisuru, civilians were beaten, houses demolished and women were abused by rebels, apparently in reprisal for refusing to leave the area. Others also said that government military sweeps were driving out civilians, especially young men suspected of collaborating with rebel groups.