About
37,474 Burundi refugees had so far crossed into Tanzania as of May
13 while 25,455 people had crossed into Rwanda as of 11 May, with
8,750 in Democratic Republic of the Congo as of 12 May, , comprising
15,452 new arrivals in Nyarangusu Camp.
A further 20,000 were reported to be waiting in Kagunga village, and 2,022 on the way to Nyarangusu Camp.
United Nations relief agencies have last week agreed to develop a
regional response plan to deal with the exodus of refugees fleeing
Burundi to neighbouring countries, as the situation in the
crisis-gripped east African nation continues to deteriorate weeks after
election-related political tensions and violence erupted.
Regional Representatives from the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food
Programme (WFP) reached the agreement during a two-day inter-agency
consultation in Nairobi, Kenya that concluded last week.
The plan will be finalised before the end of May and cover an
initial period of six months starting 1 April 2015, the date when
refugee flows started.
Some 55,000 asylum seekers from Burundi have sought refuge in
neighbouring Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
countries over the past six weeks and those numbers are expected to
rapidly rise.
Explaining the consultative process to donors Stefano Severe,
Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Great Lakes Refugee Situation and
UNHCR's Regional Representative in the DRC said that UNHCR has been
monitoring developments in the Great Lakes Region, particularly
population movements and forced displacement linked to scenarios in
eastern DRC and Burundi.
He added that he had met with Said Djinnit, Special Envoy of the
Secretary-General for the Great Lakes to explore synergies between the
political and peacebuilding initiatives carried out by and on behalf of
the Secretary-General. The Regional Refugee Coordinator commended UN and
non-governmental organisation partners' ongoing efforts to protect and
assist persons affected by the Burundi crisis.
"While focusing on emergency response, I would like to reiterate
the primacy of protection, the importance of placing 'Human Rights Up
Front' and of including durable solutions in our responses," Severe
said, adding that the emergency response an include support to early
recovery as a lifesaving measure as emphasised by the Inter-Agency
Standing Committee (IASC), the World Bank and the UN Development
Programme (UNDP).
Regional partners will be looking to harmonise approaches, planning
scenarios and projections of refugee numbers as well as priority
actions and minimum standards of response across the affected countries.
The Burundi population is highly vulnerable, and with escalating prices
of basic commodities in the country, the imperative of quick effective
responses to their needs cannot be overstated.
Popular protest erupted after the country's ruling National Council
for the Defence of Democracy - Forces for the Defence of Democracy
(CNDD-FDD) party nominated on 26 April Nkurunziza as its presidential
candidate for a third term.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN