Mahama : soaring prices plunge refugees into increasing hardship

SOS Médias Burundi

Mahama, April 29, 2026 – The continued rise in prices of basic necessities is worsening the living conditions of refugees in the Mahama camp in eastern Rwanda. Several families say they can no longer afford to meet their food needs despite humanitarian aid.

In the Mahama camp, located in eastern Rwanda, many refugees say they are experiencing increasingly difficult circumstances due to the sharp increase in the prices of basic foodstuffs.

“Even eating once a day is becoming difficult,” says a refugee in the camp, which hosts Burundians and Congolese.

According to several testimonies gathered on site, food prices have risen sharply in the last six months, particularly in the Mahama I and Mahama II markets.

The price of a kilogram of rice has risen from 1,000 to 1,300 Rwanda francs, 1.5 kilograms of beans now cost 1,500 Rwanda francs compared to 1,000 previously, while a liter of cooking oil has increased from 2,500 to 3,400 Rwanda francs.

A Burundian refugee who has been living in the camp for over ten years says he has never seen such a price increase. He laments that humanitarian aid is no longer sufficient to cover basic household needs.

Cash assistance for refugees is currently distributed according to categories of social vulnerability. Those in the first category each receive 6,800 Rwanda francs per month.

“A family of five in the first category receives approximately 34,000 Rwanda francs.” With this, she can buy about 12 kilos of rice, 10 kilos of cornmeal, and a liter of cooking oil. This ration can only last a week and a half, two weeks at most,” explains a source on the ground.

According to several refugees, the rest of the month is marked by severe food and material hardship.

To try to survive, many refugees leave the camp daily to look for odd jobs in the surrounding villages. Some work in the fields, while others are employed on construction sites.

Faced with this situation, many refugees are calling on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Rwandan government to increase the assistance provided to refugee households to cope with the rising cost of living.

The Mahama camp hosts more than 65,000 refugees, including more than 41,000 Burundians. The other refugees are mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo.