Congolese refugees in Burundi return home but UN says situation is unsafe

Nearly a month after more than 150 Congolese refugees were massacred in Burundi, large numbers appear to have gone back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) although the United Nations refugee agency does not believe conditions in their home areas allow for a safe or sustainable return.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff do not have access to the border to monitor the returns, and cannot establish how many of the nearly 20,000 Congolese who fled ethnic fighting in the eastern DRC in June have now left Burundi, spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva today.

“We have requested authorisation for a presence at the Rusizi River border crossing, but the Burundian military says the area is too insecure to allow such a presence,” he added.

Mr. Redmond noted that on a visit to the Rugombo transit centre last week, a UNHCR team found that 500 refugees crossed back into DRC on one day alone in late August, and several other groups have left since then, although there are conflicting reports about whether they were allowed to enter DRC.

Rugombo is north of Gatumba refugee camp where some 160 ethnic Congolese Tutsi were massacred on 13 August. Eyewitnesses have implicated Hutu from the DRC and Rwanda as well as from Burundi itself. Burundi and Rwanda have been torn by decades of ethnic fighting between the two groups, which has spilled over into the eastern DRC.