Nyarugusu (Tanzania) : three Burundian refugees attacked

These Burundians were going outside the camp to harvest sweet potatoes in their fields. Burundian civilian guards who collaborate with Tanzanians prevented them from doing so. They seriously beat them up. The victims were admitted to the camp hospital.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The triple attack occurred on Tuesday afternoon. Four Burundian refugees went to their crop fields. Suddenly, they were surprised by civilian guards known as “Sungusungu, a name of Tanzanian origin, also used by young Burundian refugees. That is where the ordeal began.

“My friends were assaulted, mistreated and beaten up. The attackers used rebar, pipes and dry tree trunks, like a scene from a criminal arrest,” testifies one of them who was able to escape. It is the latter who went to alert the police.

Their only fault : leaving the camp without prior authorization.

“Had it not been for the rapid intervention of the police, the poor Burundian women would have been killed. The police quickly transferred them to the hospital in zone 8 for intensive care: they are suffering from many injuries and probably fractures,” say Burundians who gathered to witness the incident.

What is surprising, they regret, is that these civilian guards are also Burundian refugees.

“We know them, they are Imbonerakure (members of the youth league of the CNDD-FDD, the ruling party), pretending to be refugees to mistreat us and spy on us. The evidence is that they are not worried because they work for the president of the camp,” lament Burundian refugees who demand exemplary sanctions against the attackers.

“No other investigation is necessary because the police recognized them,” they add.

The police condemned these facts and promised to bring the case before the camp administration even if refugees do not expect much.

Such cases of aggression are frequent in the Nyarugusu camp and sometimes turn into sexual violence for women who go to natural reserves in search of firewood.

Nyarugusu is a camp that has more than 110,000 refugees including nearly 50,000 Burundians.

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One of the three victims bedridden in the Nyarugusu camp hospital, SOS Médias Burundi