NAIROBI
\nThe United Nations appealed for $33 million in urgent funding to help more than 80,000 people who have fled to Burundi after the latest advance by Rwanda-backed militants in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
\nAfter seizing the major Congolese cities of Goma in January and Bukavu in February, the M23 armed group launched a new offensive in early December near the Burundian border, even as Rwanda and the DRC signed a peace agreement in Washington.
\nThe M23 on December 10 took control of Uvira, a city of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, giving it control of the land border with the DRC\u2019s ally Burundi.
\nUnder US pressure, the group said it would withdraw from Uvira but some of its police and intelligence agents were still deployed in the city on Thursday, according to local and security sources.
\n\u201cFollowing recent violent clashes in South Kivu, notably around Uvira… a significant influx of refugees has occurred since December 5, with an estimated arrival of nearly 80,000 people through various entry points,\u201d said the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
\nThe refugees include 71,989 Congolese and 8,000 Burundians, it added.
\nThe organization, which expects a total of 90,000 new arrivals, launched an appeal on Thursday for $33.2 million (28.3 million euros) to enable it to host them in decent conditions.
\nIt published a photo showing dozens of people camping under trees, without any infrastructure to accommodate them. On Tuesday, two Burundian officials estimated that at least 85,000 people had fled the DRC in recent weeks to seek refuge in Burundi.
\nEzechiel Nibigira, the Burundian president of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), reported 25,000 refugees in Gatumba, western Burundi, and nearly 40,000 in Buganda in the northwest, most of them \u201ccompletely destitute.\u201d
\nThe administrator of the southwestern Burundian city of Rumonge, Augustin Minani, described to AFP a \u201ccatastrophic\u201d situation in his commune with 20,000 to 25,000 refugees from the DRC who \u201clack everything,\u201d of whom \u201cthe vast majority are dying of hunger.\u201d
\nThe UN counted more than 200,000 displaced people last week due to the offensive, though it is unclear how many are now in Burundi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI The United Nations appealed for $33 million in urgent funding to help more than 80,000 people who have fled to Burundi after the latest advance by Rwanda-backed militants in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. After seizing the major Congolese cities of Goma in January and Bukavu in February, the M23 armed group launched […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-521017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n