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Leaving Burundi refugees increase
2005-08-15 07:59:31
By Guardian Reporter
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Burundian refugees returning home from camps in Tanzania - an expression of their confidence that peace has now come to Burundi for good, UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis said at the weekend in Geneva.
’’The refugees tell us that orderly communal elections at the end of June - nearly the last step in a long transition to peace and democracy - gave them the confidence to return home after up to nine years in exile,’’ she said in a press release to Reliefweb .
In June and July the number of Burundians going home to the south of the country was ranging from 600 to 800 a week but last week alone more than 4,200 (3,600 from Tanzania and 600 from Rwanda) refugees returned home, she said.
’’In August, we estimate the number returning to these areas on UNHCR convoys from Tanzania will total 20,000 - a more than six-fold increase over the 3,116 who came home in June.
Because of increased demand by Burundians to leave Ngara, Kasulu and Kibondo camps in western Tanzania, we have increased the number of convoys and are now running three convoys from Ngara and two in a week from each of the other two camps,’’ says the press statement.
UNHCR is providing refugees with transportation from the Tanzanian camps back to their home villages. Once back in Burundi they are given goods to help them restart their life including a three-month supply of food, as well as plastic sheeting, mats, blankets, cloths, sanitary materials, kitchen sets, jerry cans, soap and a hoe, since most of them are farmers.
’’We are also building schools and providing roofing materials for individual returnees houses, and funding other projects to help the local community absorb the returning refugees,’’ the UNHCR official says.
Since 2002, more than 250,000 Burundian refugees have gone home, mainly from Tanzania.
There are still some 238,000 Burundian refugees in Tanzanian camps, and another 198,000 living in settlements in the west of the country.
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