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Kikwete calls for speedy repatriation of refugees
2006-01-17 08:49:28
By Guardian Reporter
President Jakaya Kikwete has appealed to Home Affairs Ministry to collaborate with UN agencies to speed up repatriation of refugees from the country.
’A country like Burundi is now peaceful…Burundian refugees have no reasons to continue living in refugee camps,’ said the President when he paid the Ministry a courtesy call last Friday in Dar es Salaam.
Kikwete told the ministry to work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other international agencies in the implementation of voluntary repatriation programme.
’I am not saying we should force these refugees out of our country, but my concern is that we must be serious in implementing voluntary repatriation programmes,’he said.
Earlier on, the Home Affairs Minister, Capt. John Chiligati said repatriation process of refugees from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi was going on.
Around 235,589 refugees had already been repatriated back home on voluntary basis so far, he said.
The latest statistics indicate that there are about 552,000 refugees still living inside and outside the refugees’ camps in Tanzania
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