Photo credit: African News
As violence in the eastern DRC escalates, a growing number of people are being forced into refugee camps across the border in Burundi.
Africanews reports that over 80,000 people have crossed the border from the DRC’s South Kivu since the start of December, according to the United Nations, bringing the total now to more than 200,000 displaced people.
Aid workers say they are struggling to cope.
With so many new arrivals, transit centres in Burundi have far surpassed capacity, in some cases by nearly 200 per cent. That’s left hundreds of families in untenable positions.
Burundi has maintained troops in eastern Congo for years in an effort to keep the conflict at bay. But after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels took control of the South Kivu city of Uvira last week, the humanitarian spillover has become unstoppable.
M23 began a withdrawal from the city late Wednesday, according to the leader of the rebel group and local authorities. A spokesman for the governor of South Kivu said he was unable to confirm the withdrawal late Wednesday night.
The rebels’ latest offensive comes despite a US-mediated peace agreement signed earlier this month by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washington.
The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, according to the UN agency for refugees, UNHCR.
