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U N I T E D N A T I O N S DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS INTEGRATED REGIONAL INFORMATION NETWORK
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BURUNDI UPDATE Recent Events in Rwandan Refugee Camps Northeast Burundi
26 January 1996
As reported in the Humanitarian Coordinator's Situation Report for the period covering 14 to 20 January, some 15,000 Rwandan refugees fled Mugano camp following intense fighting on the night of 17-18 January. The refugees fled to the border where they were allowed entrance by Tanzanian authorities. The decision to open the border for these refugees was reportedly made for humanitarian reasons and does not reflect a change in the official position of the Tanzanian government to seal the border since early last year. Once allowed into Tanzania, military authorities apparently guided the refugees to temporary sites in the town of Nyarulama. Official figures of Mugano refugees registered by UNHCR Ngara should be forthcoming. Mugano refugee camp is now closed.
According to a Government statement dated 22 January following a mission to the area by the Minister of the Interior and the President of the Tripartite Commission, armed bands entered Mugano camp and attacked the military position nearby at 22:00 hours on 17 January. Contradictory reports received from Tanzania allege that Burundian military authorities made an attack on the camp forcing the refugees to flee. It is estimated that anywhere from six to 20 refugees were killed during the incident and from three to ten wounded.
In a Government communication on the incident, it is also alleged that a UNHCR vehicle was "borrowed" by local Burundian military authorities during the fighting to seek further reinforcements. Upon its return, the vehicle was ambushed and the car overturned. In response to the report, UNHCR Bujumbura in a news release of 26 January, denyied any involvement of a UNHCR vehicle in the fighting at Mugano.
In the early morning hours of 21 January, another 15,000 refugees from Ntamba made a mass exodus of the camp with their belongings and recently distributed food rations. According to sources in Muyinga, the refugees had heard about the movement of refugees from Mugano camp and organised to leave en masse and head for the Tanzanian border. All but some 300 to 400 refugees left the camp. While there were no reports of violence or intimidation in relation to the camp closure, it is reported that local forces entered the camp after the refugees had left burning shelters and destroying water supply systems. It has been suggested that the military conducted these activities so that the Ntamba refugees would not be able to return. However, this has been denied by the Burundi Government. According to WFP, 90 metric tons of food stocks were found missing after the events.
Once at the border, Ntamba refugees were denied access by Tanzanian authorities. Some 400 are reported to have immediately made it across the border; the rest remained camped at the border post from 21 to 25 January hoping to gain access. A certain number of refugees from Ntamba are also alleged to have been forced back from the border on 21 January and beaten by local military authorities in Burundi. While UNHCR personnel were unable to gain access to the border on 21 January, staff were present with the refugees from 22 to 25 January. During this time, UNHCR staff maintained security, endeavored to encourage refugees to repatriate to Rwanda, and registered others for return to Ntamba. On 23 January, 140 of these refugees repatriated to Rwanda under the auspices of UNHCR.
On 24 January, the Minister of the Interior, the President of the Tripartite Commission for Repatriation and the UNHCR Representative to Burundi visited the border site to assess the situation. In the late afternoon, the Tanzanian border was opened for a period of 30 minutes and it was reported that some 7,000 Ntamba refugees were allowed to pass during this time. However, UNHCR estimates at the end of the week related that only some 3,000 had gained passage. As concerns the rapid opening and closing of the Tanzanian border on 24 January, no information is available at this time.
While some of these refugees passed into Tanzania, the majority have returned to Ntamba camp. As of 24 January, some 4,500 refugees had returned. By 26 January, UNHCR reported that a total of 12,234 were in Ntamba where they were being re-registered by UNHCR staff. Exploratory discussions are being held about possibly moving these refugees to other sites at a later time as a preventive measure against future movements and possible security incidents. There are also provisional plans for Rwandan government authorities to make a mission to the camps in Burundi to encourage these populations to return home.
As of 21 January, UNHCR figures for refugee camp populations were the following:
Magara 38,564 Ruvumu 18,547 Kibezi 23,395 Ruku 20,939 Ntamba 15,316
TOTAL 116,761
Total UNHCR repatriation statistics for the first three weeks in January were:
Magara 455 Ruvumu 336 Kibezi 611 Ruku 266 Ntamba 2,131 Mugano 18
TOTAL 3,817
Tanzania is an asylum country currently holding some 700,000 Rwandan refugees and another 260,000 Burundian refugees, most of whom fled Burundi after the clashes of 1972. Tanzanian authorities closed the border to further refugees in April 1995. UNHCR reports that only 1,096 Burundian refugees returned from Tanzania under the auspices of its repatriation programmes in 1995.
At this time, the figures for Ntamba refugees who crossed into Tanzania and for those who returned to the camp do not easily correspond with the population statistics available before the events of last week. These figures may be cleared up in the days to follow as UNHCR is permitted the time to fully assess the situation and to register refugees in Tanzania and re-register refugees in Ntamba. However, once formalised, these figures may reveal that a third population may have moved during the events of last week - a population of Burundian displaced persons and local residents. Reports of Burundians seeking refuge in Tanzania in relation to the events in Muyinga province have circulated, though are as yet unconfirmed.
The full repercusions of the recent movements of refugees on efforts for repatriation are still uncertain. On Tuesday 23 January, 490 refugees from the four other refugee camps in the northeastern provinces repatriated under the auspices of UNHCR. Final figures for the week are not yet available from the field.
According to humanitarian relief personnel working in the camps, refugees have closely followed the status of the Ntamba refugees at the border, but have not planned to follow their actions. As a result of the refusal of Tanzanian authorities to let the second batch of refugees pass, it is even less likely that mass movements will be experienced in the other camps. In particular, the 38,000 refugees in the largest camp, Magara, are cautious about mass movement since this population unsuccessfully attempted to move in April 1995 and were stopped at Kabanga and forced to return to the camp and rebuild home sites.
Finally, the events of last week underline the difficulties faced by Burundi and Tanzania in continuing to accomodate Rwandan refugees. Repeated efforts to encourage these refugees to return to Rwanda must be conducted by the Burundian and Rwandan governments and the humanitarian community to prevent future security incidents involving refugees and to allow the host communities to recover from the effects of hosting the refugees.
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From: Ben.Parker@dha.sasa.unep.no (Ben Parker) Date: 27 Jan 96 11:55:10 +0300 Subject: Burundi Update 26 January Message-Id: <761_9601271202@sasa.unep.no>