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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

BURUNDI: IDPs return home

NAIROBI, 15 July 2003 (IRIN) - The flow of internally displaced people (IDPs) into central Bujumbura, the Burundian capital, has ceased "with significant numbers returning to their homes", the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Monday.

Forces nationales de liberation rebels led by Agathon Rwasa began shelling the city on 7 July, causing at least 170 deaths and displacing 15,000 people in the southern suburbs of Bujumbura.

The latest reported attack on Sunday claimed the lives of 28 rebels whom the army said were mostly aged between 11 and 15 years.

In a situation brief, OCHA reported that business in the city resumed on Monday, with employees reporting for work.

The agency said IDPs who remained in various camps across the city were expected to return home in the coming days, "provided the security situation remains stable". Most of the IDPs who had gathered at the Burundi Life Museum site returned to the homes on Monday, the agency reported.

It reported that about 7,000 IDPs remained at sites in Mont Sion in Mutaga North and the Sororezo and Mugoboka areas. The agency said UN agencies and international NGOs continued to provide emergency aid for the displaced.

OCHA added that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Rescue Committee would continue to provide water, and that a health post managed by Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF-Belgium) would remain until all the IDPs had left. Many IDPs remained at a camp at the National Unity Monument, OCHA said, and that the UN World Food Programme had provided them seven-day food rations.

"MSF-Swiss continues to run a mobile clinic while the Italian Cooperation will continue to provide water and sanitation services," OCHA reported.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs

[ENDS]

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