Lusenda: Burundian refugees asked not to leave the camp

It is the national commission for refugees in the Congo that wants the refugees to stay inside the camp as it feels not wise for the refugees to go out as before. Insecurity prevailing in the east of the DRC is the reason that motivated the move seen as bringing hard living conditions to the refugees saying. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Olivier Iranzi, head of Burundian refugees in Lusenda says the announcement was recently communicated to refugees in Lusenda by regional representatives of the Congolese commission for refugees. The commission set the limit of their movements 13 kilometers.

“Any refugee who wants to leave the camp will now need a special permission,” the commission said.

The Lusenda camp is located in the territory of Fizi in the province of South Kivu in the east of the DRC. Several of its occupants left this camp every day to look for work in the town of Baraka and in various villages of this territory.

“Our children are going to starve. Before, we could supplement the insufficient food assistance by going to work in the Congolese fields, which is no longer possible now”, laments Lydia Nizigama, mother of children living in zone 16.

In Lusenda, some Burundians run some businesses. They must go to the territory of Uvira (about 70 kilometers) to find goods to sell.

“We are going to face huge losses,” say traders who confided in SOS Médias Burundi.

Didier Numbi Wa Numbi, representative of the Congolese commission in charge of refugees in Lusenda explains that the measure was taken to “protect the refugees”.

“The decision was taken after a meeting of administrative and security officials in the Tanganyika sector. It was noted that the refugees are at risk of being harassed, killed […] following the prevailing insecurity in the region” , he said.

Lusenda is a Burundian refugee camp that hosts more than 26,000 people. The majority being brick layers, motorbike taxi riders or even traders working outside the camp or farmers.