UNHCR begins relocation of DRC refugees in Burundi

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun the relocation of refugees fleeing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Burundi.

More than 1,000 DRC refugees who were temporarily sheltered at Kaburantwa Catholic Parish in Buganda district, Cibitoke province, northwest Burundi, took buses Saturday heading for the Musenyi refugee site in Giharo district, Rutana province, southeast Burundi.

"We're very happy to be in this safer place here in Burundi. We're also happy that the UNHCR is going to relocate us to another place, which, we believe, is also better," Chantal Nabitu, one of the Congolese refugees, told Xinhua as she was boarding a bus.

"We hope that our children will be able to resume their classes. You know, there is war in North and South Kivu provinces" in eastern DRC, she said, thanking the UNHCR and the Burundian government for their help.

Brigitte Mukanga-Eno, UNHCR representative in Burundi who visited Kaburantwa, said DRC refugees are being taken to refugee camps and sites far from the border in accordance with international conventions."We have to respect international standards. That's why we're taking them far from the border," she said. "At the Musenyi refugee site, they will get potable water, and the World Food Program (WFP) has been able to get their food for the next two weeks."

However, Mukanga-Eno said, the UNHCR and the WFP need support from other partners to continue feeding those refugees beyond the two weeks. She said children will be able to resume classes at the refugee site. After Kaburantwa, Mukanga-Eno visited Rugombo stadium, another transit site hosting more than 30,000 DRC asylum seekers in the district of Rugombo in northwest Burundi.

Their relocation to refugee sites in the provinces of Mwaro in central Burundi and Rutana in southeast Burundi would start on Monday. On Feb. 19, Burundian Interior, Community Development, and Public Security Minister Martin Niteretse said the country had already received more than 40,000 DRC asylum seekers, calling for "national and international solidarity to support efforts aimed at assisting them and adequately address this humanitarian crisis." Asylum seekers from the DRC also include defence and security forces, the minister said. Niteretse said the number of new arrivals from the DRC rose sharply after Feb. 14.