TANZANIA: REFUGEE CAMPS IN WESTERN KIGOMA REGION OVERFLOW AS REFUGEES CONTINUE TO FLOOD INTO COUNTRY FROM NEIGHBOURING DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO TO ESCAPE ONGOING CONFLICT

Record ID: 274800

  • Title: TANZANIA: REFUGEE CAMPS IN WESTERN KIGOMA REGION OVERFLOW AS REFUGEES CONTINUE TO FLOOD INTO COUNTRY FROM NEIGHBOURING DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO TO ESCAPE ONGOING CONFLICT
  • Date: 14th August 1999
  • Summary: LUGUFU CAMP, KIGOMA, TANZANIA (AUGUST 14 AND 15, 1999)(REUTERS) 1. GV SUNRISE IN THE CAMP 0.06 2. WIDE OF THE CAMP 0.10 3. LV OF CAMP 0.15 4. SV/CU AID WORKER HOLDING MALNOURISHED CHILD (2 SHOTS) 0.27 5. WS FEEDING CENTRE 0.32 6. VARIOUS OF WOMEN AT THE CENTRE (3 SHOTS) 0.44 7. WS/MV WOMEN CARRYING BASKETS ON TH
  • Embargoed: 29th August 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LUGUFU CAMP, KIGOMA, TANZANIA
  • Country: Tanzania
  • Reuters ID: LVA8SX3L7GMLGM5VSFFSQZW56A8Z
  • Story Text: Some 150 000 refugees have flooded into Tanzania to
    escape the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the
    Congo and aid workers fear that their plight has been
    forgotten as Western attention is diverted to Kosovo.

    The refugees, housed at two camps, Nyarugusu and
    Lugufu, in the western Kigoma region, are both filled beyond
    their capacity.

    With limited resources and with no sign of the war ending,
    aid workers now fear that the west's preoccupation with
    refugees from Kosovo will mean less funding for Africa's war
    victims.

    The refugees' diet consists of maizemeal, soya porridge
    and pulses.They are also provided with one bar of washing
    soap each month and cooking oil.In some camps, they receive
    half rations of maizemeal and pulses.

    The refugees are well informed, some listen to
    international news on shortwave radio and wonder at what they
    feel are discrepancies in treatment between them and their
    counterparts from Kosovo.

    The refugees live in isolated, meagre and cramped conditions.The
    camps are situated near forests which pose a security risk, the most
    vulnerable group being women and young girls.

    "I had gone to the locals to get some work to make some
    money and on my way back to the camp, a man with a machete
    followed me, running behind me and as you know women cannot
    run faster than men and he caught me and did what he came to
    do," Arina Buyoya, 28 years said explaining how she had been raped.

    Buyoya managed to walk back to the camp and get medical
    attention, but aid workers had to intervene to convince her
    husband that it was not her fault she had been raped and to
    accept her.

    Aid workers say such cases are common, only they go unreported.

    Meanwhile, with no peace in sight in the Congo, they
    continue to prepare for more refugees and are already working
    on a third campsite that will hold another 30,000 Congolese.

    Six African governments involved in the Congolese war
    signed a ceasefire agreement on July 10 in Lusaka.It was
    signed by the rebels' backers Rwanda and Uganda as well as
    Congolese President Kabila but the rebels did not sign due to
    internal divisions.


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