Extremely dire situation at displacement camps in Burundi as 63,000 flee Congo fighting, says UNHCR

FILE PHOTO: Congolese youngsters wait behind a cordon line to receive relief food from Burundian volunteers at Rugombo Stadium, after Congolese fled from renewed clashes between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), in Rugombo commune of Cibitoke Province, Burundi February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Evrard Ngendakumana/File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) - The situation at displacement camps in Burundi is extremely dire as the country experiences its largest influx of refugees, fleeing fighting in Congo, in decades, the UN's Refugee Agency warned on Friday.

Some 63,000 people have fled to Burundi, which neighbours the Democratic Republic of Congo, where violence has continued between the M23 group and the Congolese army, UNHCR said.

About 45,000 displaced people are sheltering in a crammed, open-air stadium in Rugombo, a few kilometres from the Congolese border.

"The situation is absolutely dire. Conditions are extremely harsh. The stadium is literally bursting at its seams and there is no additional space for shelter", Faith Kasina the regional spokesperson for East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes told reporters in Geneva.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, Editing by Miranda Murray)