GENEVA, Switzerland, May 31 (UPI) -- The U.N. refugee agency is concerned over a surprise relocation of thousands of Rwandan asylum-seekers by Burundian authorities.
The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva said Tuesday for the second time in a month Burundian troops dismantled three border sites over the weekend.
The action took place in a location where more than 5,500 Rwandans had recently received temporary shelters, latrines and water. Thousands were walked more than 30 miles to Songore transit center.
UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said the Burundian authorities also ordered the closure of Cankuzo transit center, with its 1,700 refugees, shortly after temporary shelters, sanitation facilities and water had arrived there.
The re-located refugees now "have to live in the open, without basic sanitation facilities and with limited water supplies," Pagonis said.
She said that it would take two or three weeks to expand and upgrade the facilities at Songore.
