By Enyichukwu Enemanna
United Nations refugee agency on Friday said the conflict in DRC has sent over 84,000 refugees fleeing into the neighbouring Burundi this month, in the second major influx this year, overwhelming the host country’s ability to respond.
Despite U.S.-backed peace deal signed in June between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda that has been accused of backing M23 rebel group, fighting has continued between DRC army and the group around the eastern town of Uvira.
Rwanda denies supporting M23 and has blamed Congolese and Burundian forces for the renewed fighting.
A report by a United Nations group of experts in July revealed that Rwanda exercised command and control over the rebels.
“Thousands of people crossing the border on foot and by boats each day have overwhelmed local resources, creating a major humanitarian emergency that requires immediate global support,” United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.
UNHCR’s Burundi representative Brigitte Mukanga-eno told reporters in Geneva that boats full of refugees were arriving daily across Lake Tanganyika from the affected South Kivu area around Uvira despite pledges by M23 to withdraw.
She said some of the boats are in poor condition, and one capsized this week, drowning those aboard.
She described inadequate conditions in Burundi’s camps with high number of persons queuing for limited food and water supplies and poor sanitary conditions, a development she said has led to outbreak of cholera.
“We have no drinks, no toilets. The population is suffering…it’s catastrophic,” Reuters quoted a refugee, Anzuruni as saying.
Burundi, one of the world’s poorest countries, has launched an appeal for $35 million to help meet the immediate needs, UNHCR’s Mukanga-eno said, but prospects are uncertain with many international donors cutting aid sharply this year.
“We really hope that with the flash appeal, there will be some response as soon as possible, to avoid the conditions going from bad to worse,” she said.
Earlier this year, the same conflict in Congo prompted 70,000 to flee to Burundi in what was then the biggest influx in decades and only half of them have since returned, UNHCR said.
