Caritas Rwanda aids refugees fleeing violence in Burundi

(Vatican Radio)  At least six people have been killed in street clashes with the police in Burundi as they demonstrated against President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term in office. A spokesman for the Burundi Red Cross said the situation remains tense as hundreds of people continue to protest in the capital despite a heavy military presence.

Presidential elections are scheduled for June 26th and political tensions have been rising since the start of the year, with thousands of people fleeing across the border into neighbouring Rwanda.

Fr Emmanuel Ruba-gum-ya is deputy secretary general of Caritas Rwanda which has been helping over 20.000 refugees from Burundi who are also receiving support from UN aid organisations. He talked to Philippa Hitchen about the ongoing crisis…

Listen: 

Fr Emmanuel says according to the Rwandan ministry for disaster and refugee affairs there are over 20.400 refugees that have crossed the border from Burundi. Caritas is helping to receive them from the airport and accompany them to the transit camps…

He says following the killings on Sunday, police have blocked roads entering the capital, Bujumbura and they have also closed the border into Rwanda as they try and stop people leaving the country…

Fr Emmanuel says he doesn’t think people will be deterred by the killings since many people in different regions of the country support the demonstrations. He fears the violence could escalate ahead of the elections in June and there have been reports of the parts of the army supporting the protesters. He stresses that it is not a return to the civil war between ethnic groups that ended a decade ago but  rather a political protest against the third mandate proposed by the president.

He says that the international community, especially the French speaking countries like France and Belgium could convince the president to give up his decision to stand again…..