Tanzania : hundreds of Burundians detained on the Tanzanian soil

Burundians looking for work in neighboring Tanzania suffer various abuses. They are either unpaid, ransomed back home or imprisoned. In the Kasulu and Nyamisivya dungeons in the Kigoma region (northwest Tanzania), former detainees say that at least 10 Burundians are taken there every day. And according to the Consul General of Burundi in Kigoma, Jérémie Kekenwa, at least 600 Burundian nationals were in detention in Kigoma until the end of May 2024.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

According to Burundians who have worked in different professions in Tanzania, they face several challenges. They explain that hundreds of thousands of Burundians cross the border in search of work every year. To get there, they claim to encounter no difficulty. Former workers in Tanzania told SOS Médias Burundi that the situation becomes complicated at the end of the contract or during the return trip.

“Some bosses exploit us for 2 or 3 years under the pretext that they will pay us our money when we need to return to the country. At the end of this period, they call the Wanamugambo (civilian guards-militia) or the police and accuse us of being irregular immigrants and this with the aim of not paying our salary”, deplore a young Burundian from the Gitega province, central Burundi who was the victim of this practice.

The Mugina border post between Burundi and Tanzania

Other Burundians, including seasonal workers, manage to get their pay. However, they are ambushed not far from the border when they return home.

“Sometimes, our bosses give us our money but the Wanamugambo ambush us very close to the border and take all the money at our disposal,” regret former Burundian workers in Tanzania.

“Some are even killed and thrown into the Maragarazi River (separating Burundi and Tanzania),” say shocked residents of the districts of Mabanda, Kibago and Kayogoro in Makamba province in the south of Burundi, on the border with Tanzania.

Kasulu and Nyamisivya dungeons

Former detainees told SOS Médias Burundi that at least 10 Burundians are taken to Kasulu and Nyamisivya dungeons in the Kigoma region in northwest Tanzania every day.

“The majority of people sent to these dungeons are Burundians who go to common markets between Burundians and Tanzanians, planned between the EAC* countries. Others are arrested when they go to visit their families. Me, during the days I spent in Kasulu, I saw at least 10 Burundians taken to this dungeon every day. There was one day when 35 people from Burundi were even transferred there,” confirms a former detainee.

And he continued, “What is very revolting is that all these people are arrested in possession of a document issued by the migration commonly called “Ujilani Mwema”, which authorizes residents of border areas to go to a neighboring country from the EAC without problem, even worse, this document is taken from them before entering the cell. They are offered either to be presented to a Tanzanian judge, which can end in imprisonment of 6 to 12 months, or pay a fine varying between 500 thousand and one million Tanzania shillings.

A sign indicating the Kibondo district Court where several Burundians are forced to appear

Authorities draw up a more alarming report

The Consul General of Burundi in Kigoma, Jérémie Kekenwa, is aware of the case of Burundians detained in Tanzania. In a meeting organized by the Council and Peace of the Catholic diocese of Bururi (southern Burundi), he recently affirmed that “more than 600 irregular Burundians were in detention in the town center of Kigoma until the end of May 2024”.

For Consul Kekenwa, regular people have no worries in Tanzania.

“For example in December 2023, 1,300 Burundians crossed the legal border, in January we documented 800, in February they were estimated at 700, in March 660 at a time when in April 750 Burundians used the legal border,” he said.

And he added, “All of them came to do different professions in the province of Kigoma-south, without mentioning those who pass through the localities of Buhirwe in the north, Kasulu, Kagongo and elsewhere,” explained Jérémie Kekenwa.

Mr. Kekenwa calls on young Burundians in particular to seek travel documents before considering any trip to Tanzania and elsewhere.

“It’s these documents that protect them,” he believes.

In recent years, several thousand Burundians have gone to countries in the sub-region such as Tanzania, Kenya, Congo and Uganda in search of work. Many others travel to the southern part of Africa to Zambia and South Africa. Unemployment and the high cost of living are the two main reasons for this exodus, which mainly concerns young graduates and uneducated ones.

———-

Illustration photo : dozens of Burundians from Tanzania stranded and without assistance in the no-man zone on the Mugina (Makamba) border, May 2020