UN helps return hundreds of DR Congo refugees from Burundi

M23 fighters patrol Bukavi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [AFP]

The United Nations repatriated the first group of Congolese who fled to Burundi from the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, among thousands who fled the violence last year.

The mineral-rich eastern DRC saw a fresh surge of fighting last year as the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group seized swathes of territory, including the town of Uvira near the Burundian border in December.

The town's capture -- shortly after the signing of a peace agreement between the two parties, brokered by the United States -- caused tens of thousands of Congolese to flee to neighbouring Burundi, according to the UN refugee agency.

However, since international pressure caused M23 to withdraw from the town, UNHCR Burundi representative Brigitte Mukanga-Ono said some Congolese had begun returning.

Following "tripartite talks between the governments of Burundi and the DRC, we agreed to begin facilitating the return of these refugees who want to go home", she said.

Mukanga-Ono said an initial group of 470 had boarded UN-chartered buses at around 9:00 am (0700 GMT) on Thursday for the western Gatumba border crossing.

A Burundian official confirmed the Congolese group had crossed at around 6:00 pm, preceded by trucks carrying their belongings.

"They all crossed and are now in Congo," they told AFP by telephone from the Gatumba border post.

Further convoys are expected to follow twice weekly, with approximately 1,000 refugees on board each time, Mukanga-Ono said.

In February, the DRC and Burundi reopened the key Kavimvira-Gatumba crossing, which was shut due to the fighting.

At the time, a Burundi border police official told AFP, on condition of anonymity: "We can see a lot of Congolese returning home" across the frontier.

Many Congolese who fled the violence in the DRC at the time faced dire conditions in overcrowded and under-resourced refugee camps in Burundi.