Thousands of new Congolese refugees are arriving en masse in Burundi to escape fighting between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and their allies in South Kivu.
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels claimed control of the city of Uriva on Wednesday.
According to UNHCR, new reception sites have been set up to manage the influx, including the Kansega transit site in Ndava zone, in Bujumbura province near the border with the DRC.
Living conditions there are dire: no water, no toilets, no shelters. Stripped of everything, refugees say they went through hell before reaching Burundi.
Between 5 and 11 December, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) recorded 40,000 new arrivals of Congolese people in Burundi. They are spread across three transit sites — Kansega, Cishemere and Gatumba.
