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UN refugee agency works to relocate Congolese refugees in Burundi

UN refugee agency works to relocate Congolese refugees in Burundi

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A team from the UN refugee agency went today to survey three new sites proposed by the Burundian government to relocate deeper inland an estimated 34,000 refugees fleeing insurgency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The site-planning staff members from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were scheduled to visit eastern Cankuzo and Rutana provinces with a view to moving the refugees to the other side of the country from DRC.

Food distribution by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) at three sites - Rugombo, Cibitoke and Gatumba - should be completed by Saturday, while the distribution of blankets, mats, jerry cans and hygienic supplies would continue through the weekend.

Small numbers of refugees continued to arrive this week, 250 of them on Tuesday alone, UNHCR said.

Preventive measures were taken at all three sites after Médecins sans Frontières confirmed a few cases of cholera and quarantined 30 other people.

The DRC Transitional Government recently built up a force of 20,000 troops in the border area with Burundi and Rwanda to counter the insurgency led by dissident DRC Gen. Laurent Nkunda and Col. Jules Mutebusi. The rebels briefly held the town of Bukavu in early June.

Another 3,000 people escaped to Rwanda, but that country closed its borders to any more incoming refugees.

The Security Council urged Rwanda on Tuesday not to provide any practical or political support to armed groups in the DRC, particularly those led by Gen. Nkunda and Col. Mutebusi, and it strongly encouraged the leaders of DRC, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi "to work together to reduce tensions and restore confidence in the region."