PHOTOS: Congo refugees in Burundi prepare to go home
GASORWE, Burundi (AlertNet) - Under a withering sun, Congolese children play as their parents line up to get their monthly food rations. It's another day at the Kinama refugee camp in northeastern Burundi.
The United Nations estimates more than 48,000 Congolese are living in Burundi after fleeing the violence and disease that aid agencies say have killed almost 4 million in eastern Congo since 1998.The U.N. refugee body, UNHCR, says it expects 10,000 or so to return voluntarily from Burundi in 2006 if the security situation across the border improves. It says the first repatriations will probably begin by the end of this year.But many of the 2,000 refugees in Kinama camp said they could never return. Some still bear machete scars and bullet wounds as grim reminders of the troubles they left behind."I've got no home to go back to," said Gislene Jose, 20, describing how attacks by Mai Mai militiamen forced her to flee the town of Kalemie.Below are images from Kinama camp taken in late October 2005 as refugees pondered whether to go or stay.
A Congolese refugee family receives flour as part of a monthly U.N. World Food Programme aid distribution. The refugees also have access to clean water, sanitation and health care provided by the United Nations and various non-governmental organisations. REUTERS/Tim Large
Refugees line up to receive their monthly World Food programme rations including rice, grain, beans and peas. REUTERS/Tim Large
A refugee stocks up on rice provided by international donors via the WFP. Congolese are free to walk into Gasorwe town to trade at the local market. The camp's main street has makeshift shops selling shoes, meat and illegally brewed banana beer. ALERTNET/Tim Large
Congolese kids take a break from school. The camp's teachers are all refugees. REUTERS/Tim Large
Kakonga Donato, a former radio journalist from Uvira town in Congo's South Kivu province, stands on the camp's main street. Donato, 45, says he was forced to flee to Burundi in 1999 after he broadcast information about a local massacre. "Even in the camp I'm not safe," he said. "I have lots of enemies here who worked for the group that committed the massacre." ALERTNET/Tim Large
Refugees take shelter from the heat by a stall selling shoes in the camp's main street. UNHCR/Catherine-Lune Grayson
A woman does her washing under the noon-day sun. UNHCR/Catherine-Lune Grayson
A boy rides a wooden bike as a girl runs by. UNHCR/Catherine-Lune Grayson
The United Nations estimates more than 48,000 Congolese are living in Burundi after fleeing the violence and disease that aid agencies say have killed almost 4 million in eastern Congo since 1998.The U.N. refugee body, UNHCR, says it expects 10,000 or so to return voluntarily from Burundi in 2006 if the security situation across the border improves. It says the first repatriations will probably begin by the end of this year.But many of the 2,000 refugees in Kinama camp said they could never return. Some still bear machete scars and bullet wounds as grim reminders of the troubles they left behind."I've got no home to go back to," said Gislene Jose, 20, describing how attacks by Mai Mai militiamen forced her to flee the town of Kalemie.Below are images from Kinama camp taken in late October 2005 as refugees pondered whether to go or stay.
A Congolese refugee family receives flour as part of a monthly U.N. World Food Programme aid distribution. The refugees also have access to clean water, sanitation and health care provided by the United Nations and various non-governmental organisations. REUTERS/Tim Large
Refugees line up to receive their monthly World Food programme rations including rice, grain, beans and peas. REUTERS/Tim Large
A refugee stocks up on rice provided by international donors via the WFP. Congolese are free to walk into Gasorwe town to trade at the local market. The camp's main street has makeshift shops selling shoes, meat and illegally brewed banana beer. ALERTNET/Tim Large
Congolese kids take a break from school. The camp's teachers are all refugees. REUTERS/Tim Large
Kakonga Donato, a former radio journalist from Uvira town in Congo's South Kivu province, stands on the camp's main street. Donato, 45, says he was forced to flee to Burundi in 1999 after he broadcast information about a local massacre. "Even in the camp I'm not safe," he said. "I have lots of enemies here who worked for the group that committed the massacre." ALERTNET/Tim Large
Refugees take shelter from the heat by a stall selling shoes in the camp's main street. UNHCR/Catherine-Lune Grayson
A woman does her washing under the noon-day sun. UNHCR/Catherine-Lune Grayson
A boy rides a wooden bike as a girl runs by. UNHCR/Catherine-Lune Grayson
