PHILIPE BERNES-LASSERRE and EMSIE FERREIRA, Pretoria | Sunday 6.00pm
THE vast numbers of Burundians fleeing their country have become Africa’s single biggest refugee crisis, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata said in Pretoria on Saturday.
“Just over the Christmas holiday some 20000 new persons arrived [in Tanzania] which makes the overall Burundian refugee situation in Tanzania more than 300000, in addition to the 100000 refugees they have from the [Democratic Republic of] Congo,” she said.
Ogata said she is “very encouraged by the fresh vigour” that former South African president Nelson Mandela has brought to the Burundian peace process since being appointed to mediate in December.
Ogata is due to travel to Zambia on Sunday where she will meet some of the estimated 20000 Angolan refugees who have poured into the west of the country in recent weeks.
Another 10000 Angolan refugees have made their way to Namibia over the past few months, according to the UNHCR in southern Africa. Ogata said the response of the international community and Europe in particular to Africa’s refugee problems has been disappointing. “The perception of the European countries and the international community in general is that there has been prolonged conflicts and it’s leading nowhere. In contrast, she said, NATO countries rallied to cope with the refugee crisis created by the war in Kosovo.
Ogata said NATO states acted because the flood of refugees is “very much threatening their own strategic interests. They were frightened. It was the backyard of Europe.” — AFP