RUYIGI June 17th (ABP) – 51 minors in conflict with the law, from the rehabilitation center for minors in Rumonge province (south-western Burundi) as well as their director and supervisors have just been relocated to the center of rehabilitation for minors in Ruyigi (eastern Burundi) following the ponds caused by the underground water sources which threaten the rehabilitation center for minors in Rumonge.
The relocation comes as the Ruyigi juvenile re-education center is currently experiencing a lack of electricity, which in turn causes security problems, as well as a temporary stoppage of the vocational training that was being provided at the center.
These 51 minors join 71 others who were already there. They arrived on site on Tuesday, June 15 at 5 p.m. Equipped with their materials which they used in Rumonge, they were accompanied by their supervisors, and their director joined them on Wednesday June 16.
The management of the rehabilitation center for minors in conflict with law in Ruyigi said that despite its initial capacity to accommodate 80 individuals, these minors will have no problem with food, sleeping or supervision because they are relocated with their personal supplies of rations, beds, mattresses and blankets as well as supervisory and management staff.
He stressed, however, that this center in Ruyigi is experiencing a serious problem of lack of electricity and as the check by ABP noted on site, the transformer which served that center was damaged and consequences have continued to manifest since this failure. These include, among other things, the risk of escape for some of those children who would be tempted by this lack of lighting, the stopping of vocational training activities from which those children benefited: carpentry, sewing and welding.
Even office work at the management of that center such as printing on computers and photocopying has become impossible and the staff of the center is obliged to go on foot, to carry out the work on computers in the headquarters of the Ruyigi province located 3 km. REGIDESO is therefore called upon to find a lasting solution to that problem.
The rehabilitation center for minors in the province of Ruyigi currently houses 122 minors in conflict with the law, including 44 defendants, namely 22 for Ruyigi and 22 for Rumonge. He also knows 78 convicts, including 49 for Ruyigi and 29 for Rumonge.