Tanzania: Western and American diplomats visit Burundian refugee camps threatened with expulsion

Five European ambassadors including Japaneese and the american ambassadors in Tanzania, visited the Nyarugusu and Nduta camps located in the northwest of Tanzania early this week. The Burundian refugees urged these major donors of the UNHCR to advocate for the suspension of the plan to close their camps by the end of the year.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

These are the ambassadors of the European Union, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Japan and the USA.

The visit of these delegations began at the Nyarugusu camp on Tuesday, and finally ended at the Nduta camp the following day.

These diplomats visited food stocks, hospitals, various humanitarian projects and met with officials and representatives of the Burundian refugees.

Nyarugusu

According to our sources, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Interior in Tanzania, the famous Sudi Mwakibasi, reassured these diplomats that “free and voluntary repatriation is following its normal course”.

These remarks were misjudged and thwarted by the representatives of the refugees at the Nyarugusu camp.

“We are forced, forced without any will, no choice to resist. Those who try to oppose it risk their lives”, vigorously denounced the representative of the refugees at the Nyarugusu camp, also adding that “I am putting my life in danger myself, by making this speech”.

Burundian refugees dance as they welcome ambassadors to Nyarugusu camp, September 24, 2024 (SOS Media Burundi)

And to plead with concrete examples.

“Schools, hospitals and churches closed, agriculture banned, fields of crops cut and destroyed, birth and marriage certificates suspended, rhetorical speeches calling on us to return before the camps closure next December, … the list is long”.
He was supported by his colleagues, local administrators.

They subsequently urged these diplomats to plead for the suspension of this “bad plan, in violation of the rights of refugees” for those who do not yet feel safe, once returned to Burundi.

These refugees, however, encouraged “those who find that the reason for their flight is no longer a reality”, to “hurry up to return”.

The diplomats “took note but did not speak out”, we learned.

Nduta

As a result of the free speech in Nyarugusu, at the Nduta camp this delegation did not meet any refugees or representatives.

Elizabetta Pietrobon and Christine Grau, heads of the European delegation in Burundi and Tanzania (SOS Media Burundi)

“It is certain that the Tanzanian Ministry of the Interior did not appreciate what happened in Nyarugusu and would have liked to avoid the same grievances and complaints being raised”, analyse refugees in Nduta who say that they were impatiently waiting for this delegation.

Precisely, in Nduta, the visit did not last, according to Burundian refugees.

New project to support refugees and returnees…

These diplomats also launched in Kasulu in the Kigoma region a project on “the integrated cross-border response in Tanzania and Burundi”. Delegations from Burundi were present.

The said project will allow Burundian refugees to “receive qualifying training especially for the disabled as well as civil status documents”. The project is being implemented first in the refugee camps in Tanzania and then in the host communes in Burundi for the returnees.

It is funded by the EU, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom to the tune of €8 million, and runs until 2027. It will support over 338,000 Burundian refugees in Nyarugusu and Nduta camps, as well as host communities in Tanzania’s Kigoma region.

The initiative is described as “commendable and resilient” by UNHCR in Tanzania.

“For the returning Burundian refugees, the skills acquired in Tanzania will help them reintegrate and adapt to their home country, as they will have the opportunity to use their skills and train members of their community to contribute to strengthening their home community,” said Hussain Anjum, UNHCR’s Deputy Representative in Tanzania.

The second – from right to left, Sudi Mwakibasi, with other members of the delegation are preparing to launch the project to support Burundian refugees and returnees (SOS Media Burundi)

The project will help returnees in Burundi access essential civil status documents, reintegrate into the local education system and have vocational training certificates obtained in Tanzania recognized.

According to UNHCR-Burundi data, since the start of the voluntary repatriation exercise in September 2017, more than 177,000 refugees have returned to Burundi from Tanzania.

As of the end of August 2024, approximately more than 257,000 Burundians remained in exile, including more than 104,000 hosted by Tanzania.