BUKAVU: Laden with mattresses, suitcases, solar panels, chairs and plastic buckets, thousands of refugees have crossed into Burundi in the past three days to flee fierce fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi police said Friday.
Nearly 7,000 Congolese have crossed Lake Tanganyika and taken refuge in Burundi since Wednesday as clashes raged between DR Congo government forces and rebels in the troubled eastern province of South Kivu.
“Yesterday, Lake Tanganyika seemed to be completely covered by hundreds of boats of all sizes, packed with refugees and their property, it was quite sight,” one rights activist told AFP.
Burundi police said a total of 6,692 people had registered as refugees since Wednesday to escape fighting between the army and the Yakutumba militia, although the flow appeared to have since slowed.
President Joseph Kabila, speaking at a rare press conference, described the security situation in the east, much of which is in the hands of rival militias, as “worrying.”
A refugee who crossed into Burundi described “very difficult living conditions” there, adding: “There has been no food or water for the vast majority of us, we don’t have any toilets.”
There was no immediate comment from the UN refugee agency or the Burundian authorities about the situation.
The DR Congo government last week announced it was waging “war” against two militias in the east — the Yakutumba and the Ugandan Islamist rebels of the Allied Democratic Force (ADF).
The ADF are active in North Kivu while the Congolese Yakutumba are several hundreds of kilometers away in South Kivu. Both regions border Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.
Rival militia groups have long held sway over large areas in the two provinces, often competing for their rich mineral resources.
7,000 flee DR Congo fighting for Burundi in just three days
7,000 flee DR Congo fighting for Burundi in just three days
Mali, Burkina say restricting entry for US nationals in reciprocal move
- Both countries said they are applying the same measures on American nationals as imposed on them
ABIDJAN: Mali and Burkina Faso have announced travel restrictions on American nationals in a tit-for-tat move after the US included both African countries on a no-entry list.
In statements issued separately by both countries’ foreign ministries and seen Wednesday by AFP, they said they were imposing “equivalent measures” on US citizens, after President Donald Trump expanded a travel ban to nearly 40 countries this month, based solely on nationality.
That list included Syrian citizens, as well as Palestinian Authority passport holders, and nationals of some of Africa’s poorest countries including also Niger, Sierra Leone and South Sudan.
The White House said it was banning foreigners who “intend to threaten” Americans.
Burkina Faso’s foreign ministry said in the statement that it was applying “equivalent visa measures” on Americans, while Mali said it was, “with immediate effect,” applying “the same conditions and requirements on American nationals that the American authorities have imposed on Malian citizens entering the United States.”
It voiced its “regret” that the United States had made “such an important decision without the slightest prior consultation.”
The two sub-Saharan countries, both run by military juntas, are members of a confederation that also includes Niger.
Niger has not officially announced any counter-measures to the US travel ban, but the country’s news agency, citing a diplomatic source, said last week that such measures had been decided.
In his December 17 announcement, Trump also imposed partial travel restrictions on citizens of other African countries including the most populous, Nigeria, as well as Ivory Coast and Senegal, which qualified for the football World Cup to be played next year in the United States as well as Canada and Mexico.
