Latest figures from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (Midimar) indicate that more than 4,000 Burundian refugees have crossed into Rwanda.

The refugees are citing security concerns in the run up to presidential elections slated for June.Speaking to The New Times, yesterday, Antoine Ruvebana, the permanent secretary at Midimar, said by Sunday evening, there were 3,950 refugees on Rwandan territory, while more than 300 had been reported at a reception point in Gisagara District.

The Burundians started coming into the country about a fortnight ago.

"As of Sunday we had 2,974 and 976 in transit camps in Bugesera and Nyanza, respectively, but even then, some others were still waiting at the Gisagara reception point,” Ruvebana said.

The refugees were around 500 at the beginning of the month but the number had soared to 3,000 by the end of last week.

Earlier on Friday, Ruvebana had told The New Times that basic support in terms of necessities such as food for the refugees was "not a problem” seeing that partners such as World Food Programme (WFP) were helping out, but more space must be found to accommodate ever-increasing numbers.

The first batch of refugees entered Rwanda around mid last month and were received and hosted by friendly Rwandan families near the border.

By the end March, the situation worsened and those who had no friends in the border communities started camping at local administration bureaus.

The government quickly moved into action and set up the two transit camps.

Dealing with challenge

"We receive on average, 450 these days,” Ruvebana said on Friday, noting that the two transit camps in Bugesera and Nyanza are crowded as they were home to 2,263 and 815 Burundians, respectively, on Thursday evening.

"We want to relocate them from the border because the two camps are small. The one in Nyanza, for example, has a capacity of 210 but we now have 815. We are building more hangars there so that people at least get ample shelter from rain,” he said.

Ruvebana said that part of the plan – likely to be implemented at the end of next week – is to relocate some of the refugees to Rukomo in Gicumbi District in Northern Province, where a zone that used to host a refugee centre can quickly be refurbished into a refugee camp again.

"It is also small but we will continue searching for other places. We’ll start setting up infrastructure, hangars, pit-latrines, cooking areas and others, on Monday, and it will take about a week,” Ruvebana said.

Bugesera mayor Louis Rwagaju told The New Times that despite the shortage of space, security of the refugees was guaranteed.

Refusal to return home

The refugees have refused to be repatriated, claiming that there are security concerns back home.

A week ago, they told a team of Burundian government officials, including the Minister for Internal Affairs, Edouard Nduwimana, that their main cause of apprehension is a Burundian militia, ‘Imbonerakure’, which they said was terrorising them.

Imbonerakure (a Kirundi word for "those that see far”) is a para-military youth group that is allegedly allied to Burundi’s ruling party, Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie-Forces de Défense et de la Démocratie (CNDD-FDD).

The group’s members have been accused of allegedly harassing and attacking members of opposition political parties.

Nduwimana told his countrymen: "It is true that people have to flee when they feel that their lives are in danger, but I want to assure you that there is adequate security in Burundi since we have arrested all those who were terrorising you.”

But the Burundi officials’ attempts to convince the refugees to return home fell to deaf ears and instead, more continue to cross over to Rwanda.

The refugee issue largely stems from an election fever engulfing the country with parliamentary electionssue May 26 and presidential elections a month later, on June 26.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw