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Chief of UN refugee agency makes nine-day tour of eastern and central Africa

Chief of UN refugee agency makes nine-day tour of eastern and central Africa

Ruud Lubbers
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ruud Lubbers, is in Burundi today on the first leg of a nine-day, four-nation tour of eastern and central Africa.

During his tour he will visit refugee camps and hold talks with senior government officials in Burundi, Tanzania, Sudan and Eritrea.

Today Mr. Lubbers is scheduled to meet Burundi’s President Domitien Ndayizeye, senior government officials and representatives of the international community in the capital Bujumbura.

Tomorrow the High Commissioner travels to Tanzania, where he will visit the Kigoma refugee camp – home to thousands of refugees fleeing Burundi’s 10-year civil war – in the country’s west. On Monday he will talk with Tanzania’s President Benjamin W. Mkapa in Dar es Salaam.

Mr. Lubbers then heads to Sudan, where he will visit refugee camps, before travelling to Eritrea, where he will hold talks with that country’s President, Isaias Afewerki. He returns to UNHCR headquarters in Geneva on 15 November.