Conflict in the Congo has led to 63,000 refugees seeking safety in neighboring Burundi, marking the largest migration of this kind in decades, with conditions at a packed stadium camp being extremely poor and many individuals stranded in fields outside, according to a U.N. report released on Friday.
Approximately 45,000 displaced individuals are residing in an overcrowded open-air stadium in Rugombo, just a few kilometers from the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting continues between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group.
“The circumstances are truly desperate. The conditions are incredibly severe,” stated Faith Kasina, the regional spokesperson for East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, during a press conference in Geneva.
“The stadium is literally overflowing, and there is no further room for accommodation.”
Sanitary conditions within the stadium are reportedly inadequate, with only 10 to 15 latrine stalls available for tens of thousands of individuals. Many families have been compelled to camp in adjacent open fields, the agency reports.
“The numbers continue to rise, and it is a race against time to save lives,” remarked Kasina, noting that the demand for assistance is rapidly surpassing what is being provided.
Among the refugees are a significant number of unaccompanied minors who have been separated from their families, according to the agency.
On February 21, UNHCR indicated during a press briefing in Geneva that it would aim to relocate individuals from the stadium. However, logistical hurdles mean that moving large groups to the Musenyi refugee site in southern Burundi takes between six to eight hours. This facility, which has a capacity for 10,000 individuals, is currently at 60 percent occupancy, according to the agency.
The agency has called on nations to support its urgent appeal for $40.4 million to provide life-saving assistance in anticipation of an influx of up to 258,000 refugees into Burundi, Tanzania, and Zambia.
The advance of M23 represents the most serious escalation in over a decade of ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, which has roots in the fallout from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the competition for control over Congo’s extensive mineral wealth.
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Rwanda denies accusations from Congo, the United Nations, and Western countries that it provides M23 with military support, asserting it is protecting itself against threats posed by a Hutu militia that is allied with the Congolese military.
Burundi has had its own troops deployed in eastern Congo for several years, initially to eliminate Burundian rebels there but more recently to assist in the battle against M23.
