BURUNDI: MORE THAN 5,000 REFUGEES HAVE FLED ETHNIC FIGHTING IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO RECENTLY

Record ID: 275139

  • Title: BURUNDI: MORE THAN 5,000 REFUGEES HAVE FLED ETHNIC FIGHTING IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO RECENTLY
  • Date: 12th November 2000
  • Summary: BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (NOVEMBER 9 + 10, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. SLV GROUP OF REFUGEES ARRIVING AT NEWLY ESTABLISHED REFUGEE CAMP IN NORTHERN OUTSKIRTS OF BUJUMBURA 0.08 2. MV REFUGEES TAKING THEIR BELONGINGS; MILITARY CHECKING CROWD (2 SHOTS) 0.18 3. MV WOMEN ENTERING CAMP; MILITARY OBSERVING CROWD; WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP) TRUCK ENTERING CAMP (5
  • Embargoed: 27th November 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI
  • Country: Burundi
  • Reuters ID: LVAESLRDEEVF6GHB4DIBO12VBSCK
  • Story Text: More than 5,000 refugees have fled ethnic fighting in
    the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile east over the last
    few weeks, pouring over the border into neighbouring Burundi,
    itself in the grip of civil war
    Civil war torn Burundi is gearing up to take on even
    more refugees, as fighting escalates in Congo.

    Officials say that refugees have been crossing the Congo
    Burundian border en masse for a few weeks, and the movement
    has been accelerating during the last few days.

    Hundreds of people, mostly women and children, have
    gathered near a newly built camp for the Congolese refugees on
    the outskirts of the Burundian Capital, Bujumbura.

    Most of them are Banyamulenge, ethnic Tutsis who moved
    into Congo from Rwanda centuries ago and now are increasingly
    becoming targets for the Mai-Mai militiamen.

    Colonel Didace Nzikoruriho who believes Burundi, "must
    face the arrival of refugees", explained how they are only in
    "charge" of those who reach Bujumbura.

    Menasse Mberabagado fled to Burundi with his seven
    children "because of the war." Mberabagado said he feels
    safe in the refugee camp.

    "There is war in Congo. There is war everywhere in Congo,"
    said Estelle Girasuku. She fled her village in Eastern Congo,
    and says will never go back.

    Burundian authorities backed by United Nations High
    Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) built the camp for the
    Congolese refugees. They say it is a temporary camp, but it is
    already full, and refugees keep on arriving and queuing at the
    entrance, with the hope to finally being granted a place to stay.

    Burundi has to cope with its own share of hundreds of
    thousands of displaced people, packed in regroupment camps all
    over the country.

    In Bujumbura's hospital, injured Congolese civilians are
    now placed alongside Burundian soldiers, injured in their own
    civil war.

    One man, Jackson, was injured by Mai Mai militiamen during
    an attack on his village south west of Uvira. He described how
    he finally fled the region. After three days they found a
    canoe which they used to reach the coastal town of Rumongue.

    Congo's four-year long conflict has disintegrated into a
    chaotic mix of rebel groups and militia factions exploiting
    ethnic divisions and competing for control of Congo's vast
    mineral wealth.

    Renewed fighting has been reported during the past week in
    the mountains southwest of the Lake Tanganyika town of Uvira,
    where the Mai-Mai, a rebel army of traditional tribal
    warriors, are fighting the Rwandan army and their rebel allies.

    More than 200,000 people have been killed in Burundi's
    seven-year civil war and more than a million have been
    displaced, but Congolese refugees say they feel safer in
    Burundi than in Congo.


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