BUJUMBURA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Burundian government on Wednesday accused Rwanda and UNHCR staff of taking Burundian refugees hostage.
Burundian government spokesman Philippe Nzobonariba in a statement urged Rwanda to free and repatriate "other refugees taken hostage by the government of Rwanda in complicity with some agents of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rwanda."
The statement came after the repatriation of about 2,500 refugees from Rwanda on Sunday and Monday from three Rwandan transit camps.
Rwanda's Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees Affairs on March 31 said more than 2,500 Burundian "asylum seekers" who crossed into Rwanda from a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be repatriated to their home country starting from Sunday. They refused any form of registration due to their religious beliefs, said the ministry in a statement.