Burundi has been facing a massive influx of refugees as families flee fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"Just in the first two weeks, we have received 42,000 people already seeking asylum," said Brigitte Mukanya-Eno, a representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Burundi. She said the agency had been working with a contingency plan "targeting about 58,000 people who could cross" over three months.

The majority of Congolese who have fled recently come from the province of South Kivu, which borders Burundi and where fighters for the 23 March Movement (M23) continue to expand their zone of occupation.

After capturing the city of Goma, the M23 took control of Kavumu airport and Bukavu, also now seizing the town of Kamanyola.

Shabani, Mathilda and Marcelo belong to a group of Congolese refugees who have arrived in a working-class neighborhood of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura. They are currently living with families who took them in.

"We have neither food nor water. We do not even have wells to draw water. May the Burundian government help us because we are really afraid to go home," Shabani tells DW.

And Marcelo adds: "Since we have families here, they........

© Deutsche Welle