Note on new IDPs in Burundi

UNITED NATIONS
OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS
Advocacy & External Relations Unit
Tel.: 1-212-963-4832/2380; Fax: 1-212-963-1312
Humanitarian agencies in Burundi are reporting large population displacements following intensified attacks by rebel groups on the province of Bujumbura Rural and its suburbs. About 260,000 people are believed to have been forced by the attacks during the past two weeks into 30 protection sites in Bujumbura Rural. As a result, the total number of IDPs in the province is now estimated at 318,000 or three quarters of the province's population. This brings the total number of IDPs in Burundi to an estimated 807,000.

In response to this development, UN agencies and NGOs sent two rapid assessment teams to visit several of the protection sites on the 27th and 29th of September. Two additional teams are scheduled to assess conditions in more sites tomorrow, 1 October 1999. The team's preliminary findings reveal that the most urgent needs are for access to safe water and non-food items, particularly blankets and plastic sheeting. International humanitarian organizations have begun to deliver safe water and some non-food items to affected populations in the sites.