KIGALI:
Five Congolese
refugees were
killed and more than 20 injured when Rwandan
police broke up a crowd demonstrating against a cut in
food rations,
police said on Friday.
The incident on Thursday followed days of sit-in protests against the reduction in
food aid at Kiziba refugee camp in western Rwanda. "Violent demonstrators armed with stones, sticks and metal projectiles assaulted and wounded seven
police officers," said
police spokesman Theos Badege.
"Police were forced to use teargas to disperse the rioters, protect and rescue officials, and secure the nearby communities." "Unfortunately, 20 rioters were wounded in the process, with
Five of them succumbing to injuries," he added, without providing details of the injuries nor the cause of deaths.
The government had initially denied any fatalities. Around 2,000
refugees began protesting on Tuesday after
food rations were reduced. Some of the camp?s 17,000 residents have lived there for over 20 years after fleeing conflict in eastern Congo.
"The protests followed a decision of the World
food Programme (WFP) to reduce
food aid to the
refugees by 25 percent due to funding shortage," said Jean Claude Rwahama, Rwanda?s director of
refugees affairs.Rwanda hosts
refugees from Burundi as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Strapped for cash, WFP cut
food rations by 10 percent in November 2017 and then by 25 percent in January 2018. The UN?s refugee agency, UNHCR, said it has received just two percent of the $98.8 million it needs this year to look after Rwanda?s 173,000
refugees in six camps.
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