Burundian refugees continue to cross into Rwanda - UNHCR

On Wednesday, the 21,000-strong Burundian refugee community at Mahama camp in Rwanda’s Eastern Province was only awaiting news from the EAC extra-ordinary summit in Dar es Salaam when something unexpected happened, an attempted coup d’etat back home. Earlier that morning, President Nkurunziza had flown out of the capital Bujumbura to Dar es Salaam where he joined his regional counterparts at an extra-ordinary meeting to discuss the crisis in his country. Erika Fitzpatrick, UNHCR’s Rwanda spokesperson told Sunday Times yesterday that the attempted coup didn’t have an impact on the refugee inflows to Rwanda adding that new arrivals have since eased; to slightly a hundred a day from thousands, previously. The Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs now estimates the total of refugees in various camps in the country at 26487 and 179 new arrivals registered on Friday. Mahama camp, which was set up to serve as the main base to accommodate up to 50, 000 refugees, had a total of 21,121 people by the weekend but some 563 refugees were expected to arrive in the camp from Nyagatare District, yesterday. Bugesera and Nyanza are holding 4472 and 307 refugees respectively; these too will be moved to the main camp and 24 people yet to be transferred to camps. The statistics at Mahama camp indicate that there are over 13770 children below the age of 17; at least 6389 women and another 6304 men. The Rwanda government in close partnership with the humanitarian agencies has been battling malnutrition cases among thousands of children who were immediately put on a special nutrition program called blanket feeding. David Muyambi, a field officer with Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) told Sunday Times that when the program started, the number of malnourished children was staggering. Around 25 percent of children below age of five were found to be malnourished but combined efforts of the government and humanitarian agencies including World Food Program (WFP) and American Refugee Council (ARC) have seen the number drop to 22 percent in the past days. To address the increasing need for water, Government and the humanitarian agencies last week agreed to increase the number of trucks ferrying in water and to extend a water pipeline to the camp. Situation inside Burundi Following the attempted coup, the US embassy in Burundi advised some of its officials to leave the country. Sunday Times talked to Faustin Kanuma, a Rwandan businessman who had stayed in Bujumbura since 2005 until three weeks ago when he fled the country. “I have no intentions to go back, the situation there is unpredictable especially since the government there has started targeting Rwandans,” he said referring to the recent excommunication of a Rwandan working with the country’s main telecom company. On Friday, the leaders of the attempted coup announced publicly their surrender and many have since been arrested and currently awaiting prosecution President Nkurunziza is reportedly back in Burundi. The United Nations, the East African Community, the United States as well as regional leaders and organizations have continued to call for an end to the violence.

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Burundian refugees continue to cross into Rwanda - UNHCR