Five refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been killed during a protest over a cut in food rations in Rwanda.
The deaths came after three days of a sit-in protests outside the United Nations’ refugee offices in the capital Kigali.
Thousands of people had walked almost 15km (10 miles) from the Kiziba refugee camps to the offices on Tuesday, angry at the cut in food aid.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to cut the amount it gives refugees twice in the last six months.
The first cut of 10% came in November, followed by 25% in January.
Earlier this week, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said it had been forced to make the hard decisions because “humanitarian operations in Rwanda remain severely underfunded”.
On Thursday afternoon, a smaller group “armed with stones, sticks and metal projectiles” allegedly assaulted officers brought in to intervene, Rwandan police said in a statement today.
They said seven officers were injured.
Police responded with tear gas, the statement added, and 20 refugees were hurt. Five have since died, the statement said. Another 15 were arrested.
Cecile Pouilly, a UNHCR spokeswoman, said the organisation regretted its “continued appeals for maintaining calm and restraint were not considered”.
“This tragedy should have been avoided, and disproportionate use of force against desperate refugees is not acceptable,” the UNHCR statement added.
Most of the refugees have reportedly now returned to the camps, home to more than 17,000 people, most of whom are women and children.
Source: BBC
