Flow of refugees from DR of Congo to Burundi slows, UN agency says

The flow of refugees from the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) into Burundi has slowed considerably and some Congolese have gone back home without official help, but the area has not calmed down sufficiently to make "facilitated repatriation" advisable, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

Refugees who arrived in Burundi after distributions of food and sanitary materials have cited food shortages as their reason for returning to the DRC. The next food distribution was expected to begin in the next few days, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

Meanwhile, although water supplies were adequate, sanitary facilities at the Rugombo site for Congolese refugees were reaching full capacity and needed to be replaced in the next couple of weeks. No space was available to build the new ones, it said.

Burundi was hosting about 34,000 Congolese refugees last week.

The Burundian-DRC border was closed after an estimated 150 Interahamwe, or Rwandan Hutu rebels, entered Burundi from DRC last Thursday.

In other areas, the Burundian Army and anti-government forces were continuing the fighting that has displaced tens of thousands of civilians, UNHCR said. UN peacekeeping forces started patrolling last week.

Near the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, cases of severe nutrition among internally displaced persons (IDPs) were increasing in number. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) distributed 503 tons of food to 51,029 IDPs earlier in the month.

One case of meningitis at Kabezi commune was confirmed, UNHCR said.