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Burundi: MSF denied access to Rwandan refugees in transit camp
MSF staff had been conducting more than a hundred medical consultations a day in Songore. The refugees in Songore have been declared ‘illegal immigrants’ by both Rwanda and Burundi and denied asylum. MSF staff have seen, over the last week, thousands of refugees being transported on trucks under military escort back to an unknown location, most likely back to their home country, Rwanda. ‘It’s unacceptable that our medical staff are denied access to our own health facility in Songore camp, denying medical care to the people in the camp. We are also unable to continue the medical care for those already under treatment and who have already been transported. Some families have even been split up because some family members were referred to a nearby hospital’ says Michiel Hofman, operational director for MSF.‘We are very concerned about what can be seen as a forced repatriation where the basic rights of an asylum seeker are being denied’. Almost 8,000 Rwandese fled their country in the past month. According to accounts made to MSF medical staff, people fear arbitrary arrests and intimidation upon return in Rwanda. Since 29 May they were forced by the Burundian government to live in a transit camp, some 20 kilometres away from the border with Rwanda.
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