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Most Burundi refugees want Tanzanian citizenship - survey
2008-03-14 09:12:50
By Rose Mwalongo
Most Burundian refugees living in the old settlements of Ulyankulu in Tabora and Katumba in Mpanda will most likely seek Tanzanian citizenship rather than go back home.
Most of them say since they know very little about their mother country, having lived in the country since 1972, they feel more attached to Tanzania.
A survey conducted by The Guardian in the two settlements recently indicates that a sizeable number of the refugees either came to the country when they were too young to recall now anything about Burundi, or were born in Tanzania and therefore feel little or no attachment to their mother country.
One of them, Nestory Havugukuli, who lives in Ulyankulu settlement, said his parents fled to Tanzania when he was just two years old, adding that he could not go back to Burundi to `rebuild` anything as there was nothing there for him to rebuild.
``I am going to seek citizenship. I have been here ever since I was two years old and I now have a family of my own. I have six children and I am happy here. I would rather remain here because that is where my home is,`` he said.
Another Ulyankulu settler, Batholomeo Hezroni, said he was born in Tanzania and could not choose to go to Burundi because he does not know anything about the country.
``Both my parents died here. I have nothing to go back to because I was born here and have now got a family of my own,`` said Hezroni.
On her part, Kalania Nicholas living in the same settlement, said she would stay in Tanzania owing to fears that she would not get back the land she left in Burundi.
``I don`t even know if there is peace there because I have not gone back ever since I left,`` Kalania, a mother of five children, said.
Fifty-three-year old Habakana Ernest of Katumba settlement in Mpanda said he was willing to go back home, but his children had refused to do so on account that they did not know anything about Burundi.
``My children don`t want to go back, but I will be going in August,`` said Ernest.
Twenty-five-year old Agnes Oswald said she would remain in Tanzania as she had been here ``since time immemorial``.
However, an 18-year-old refugee, Asha Mbondeka, said she would go home because her parents were staying there.
The government is planning to close all camps accommodating Burundian refugees by year-end.
Refugees in the settlements, set up in 1972, have been given two options: To go home voluntarily or seek citizenship in accordance with the rules and regulations of the country.
Home Affairs deputy minister Khamis Kagasheki has called on countries to help host some of the refugees from the settlements.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Gutteres was quoted on Monday as saying that UNHCR would find an alternative solution to refugees who opt not to go back home, saying it would never send back people to unsecured areas.
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