The UN is working at relocating civilians fleeing electoral tension in Burundi as the country prepares itself for elections in June.
Civil unrest erupted in Burundi over the weekend after the ruling party overwhelmingly elected President Pierre Nkurunziza on Saturday as its candidate for the 26 June presidential election.
Sources say at least six people have been killed in 2 days of violence that rocked the capital Bujumbura since Sunday as opposition supporters rejected the nomination of president Nkurunziza who will be seeking a third term saying its unconstitutional.
The humanitarian wing of the United Nations is appealing for $11.6 million dollars to plan a response for the influx of people seeking refuge in neighboring countries.
President Nkurunziza, who was elected by the ruling party CNDD-FDD with 88 per cent of the vote, has been in office for two terms since 2005, and a broad array of actors has warned that an attempt to seek a third term is unconstitutional and contrary to the spirit of the 2000 Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi that ended a decade of civil war in the country.
“There has been widespread intimidation and efforts to shut down media outlets, as well as intimidation and arrests of rights activists, notably Pierre Claver Mbonimpa,” OCHA said.
Meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rwanda reported that as of Sunday, 20,408 Burundians had sought refuge in Rwanda over the past two weeks.
UNHCR reports that together with the Government of Rwanda, they are working to relocate a total of 16,000 refugees from the two reception centres, Bugesera and Nyanza, to the new Mahama refugee camp by May.
The number of refugees being relocated on a daily basis to the new camp is increasing due to the sharply rising rate of new arrivals (almost 3,000 individuals arriving daily as of 25 April, up from an average of 500 daily arrivals between 16-21 April), overwhelming the two reception centres. UNHCR, the Government and partners are planning for a continued high rate of influx.
Meanwhile, UNHCR in Uvira, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), reports that 4,000 Burundians have sought refuge in the DRC, while UNHCR in Tanzania – which has historically hosted hundreds of thousands of Burundian refugees – reports only 100 arrivals from Burundi thus far.
The newly re-established Burundi Humanitarian Country Team has endorsed a contingency plan for the upcoming elections, requesting $11.6 million to respond to the needs of up to 50,000 people most likely to be affected within the first eight weeks of violence due to elections.
OCHA has expressed fear that about 350,000 people could be in need of humanitarian assistance within the next 6 months.
