Where Is SOS Clinton as Uncertainty Looms for Refugees and Displaced Populations in Central Africa?
The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) said in a press release early this week that it has “strongly advised” some 2,300 Congolese refugees in Gihinga camp in Mwaro province “not to go ahead with a plan to return to South Kivu Province in eastern the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).” The refugees, who are from the Uvira region bordering Burundi, have refused to be relocated to a newly established camp in Bwagiriza, east of Burundi, and have decided that they will instead return to DRC, their country of origin. At the beginning of 2009, the Government of Burundi and UNHCR decided that Gihinga camp would be closed and all the refugees transferred to Bwagiriza. Gihinga camp was officially closed last week. For months, UNHCR and the Burundi authorities had carried out an information campaign to prepare the refugees in Mwaro for the voluntary relocation. However, when the exercise started, only 264 agreed to relocate. Those refusing to relocate said they feared for their
