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Over quarter of a million people flee Burundi to neighboring countries: UN agency

Xinhua, March 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that the number of people who have fled Burundi and sought shelter in neighboring states has passed the 250,000 mark, a UN spokesman said here Friday.

"It added that the average rate of new arrivals per week has been more than 1,000 in Tanzania, 500 in Uganda, 230 in Rwanda and 200 in Democratic Republic of the Congo," Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

The UN Agency also said that although there has been a slight lull in violence recently, refugees arriving in the host countries continue to report human rights violations in Burundi and difficulty in leaving the country, he added.

The crisis in Burundi broke out in April 2015 after protests against the third term bid of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza.

More than 200 people are reported to have been killed during the protests and the post-election violence. The worsening humanitarian situation has forced more than a lot of Burundians to seek refuge in neighboring countries. Enditem