EU, UNHCR commissioners visit

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, and the European Union Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, arrived on Friday in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, for a two-day visit. The officials arrived from Tanzania, where they had visited camps hosting Burundian refugees and witnessed the repatriation of some of the refugees. "I wanted with Mr Guterres to have a firsthand look at the repatriation process and also renew the European Union's commitment to help Burundi create favourable conditions for the rehabilitation and resettlement of those persons in Burundi," Louis Michel told reporters at Bujumbura Airport. Michel said the EU was committed to assisting Burundi even more in the coming months. The EU would initiate a meeting of representatives of the Burundi government, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and other partners willing to help in the rehabilitation and resettlement of war-affected people, he said. According to a joint press statement issued by UNHCR and the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO), Guterres and Michel plan to meet senior government officials and President Pierre Nkurunziza to discuss the plight of returnees, internally displaced people and refugees. The agencies said Burundi still has humanitarian situations that call for rapid and large-scale interventions. "Rwandan asylum seekers in the north and east of the country, Congolese refugees, IDPs [internally displaced persons] still waiting to return to their villages of origin, Burundi refugees - all are in need of assistance to allow them to reintegrate in their communities as soon as possible," the statement said. UNHCR said it had facilitated the repatriation of 4,300 Burundians since the beginning of 2006 and expects to repatriate at least 50,000 by the end of the year. Burundi also hosts some 30,000 refugees and at least 16,000 Rwandan asylum seekers. According to a June 2005 report, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 116,000 persons were still internally displaced in the country. During the visit, Guterres is scheduled to visit the transit centre of Kinama in Bujumbura and the transit centre of Mugano in the northeastern province of Muyinga as well as Gasorwe Refugee Camp, also in Muyinga. At Gasorwe transit site, which was set up in 2002 with EU funding, Guterres will meet some of 8,499 Congolese refugees hosted there. Kinama transit centre was set up in 2003, also with EU funding, to host returning Burundians from Bujumbura and its surroundings. Some 168 persons are presently hosted in Kinama, along with 13 Congolese asylum seekers.