Citation
GENEVA, April 15 (Reuter) - Over 20,000 people, many of them refugees
from Burundi, have fled the current unrest in Rwanda, the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday.
UNHCR spokeswoman Sylvana Foa told reporters that 12,000 people had
fled to Burundi, around 9,100 to Zaire, several hundred to Tanzania and
around 100 to Uganda.
Of those that had fled to Burundi, 11,000 were Burundians who fled
ethnic violence in their own country late last year. There are around
275,000 Burundi refugees in camps in Rwanda.
Of the 9,100 who had fled to Zaire, 8,000 were Rwandans and 1,100
refugees from Burundi. Those who had fled to Zaire and Tanzania were
Rwandans.
Foa said a U.N. team had managed to get into Burundi refugee camps
around Butare, near the Burundi border, where about 140,000 refugees
are holed up.
The team had reported that the situation in the area was stable and had
given the green light for cross-border aid convoys from Tanzania via
northern Burundi to the camps. Foa said there was about a week's supply
of food in the camps, even with all the refugees in them only on
half-rations.
She added that High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata had released
$5 million from a UNHCR emergency fund to tide the operation over until
donor governments responded to an appeal for funds.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
