Nakivale (Uganda): more than 2,000 Burundian asylum seekers rejected

They had fled since 2018 and see their host country reject their asylum applications. These Burundians must appeal. They suspect a hand of the Burundian government behind this refusal. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Uganda no longer grants direct asylum to any applicant who is on its territory. Instead, interviews are conducted by the Ugandan government via the office of the Prime Minister, in charge of refugees, in collaboration with the UNHCR, to identify the personal motive and the reason for fleeing.

It is in this context that more than 5,000 asylum seekers have undergone these interviews recently. Among them, Burundians who fled for more than six years.

More than 99% of them have not got the chance to benefit from refugee status, according to the list of results that has just been posted at the Nakivale camp. They are estimated at more than 2,000.

On the other hand, almost all Congolese, Sudanese, Ethiopians, Somalis and Eritreans have received this asylum status because “their countries are at war and/or armed conflicts”, explains a source close to the UNHCR.

According to this source, it is this last main criterion that eliminated the aspirants from Burundi.

Another determining factor is that the Burundian government, host countries and the UNHCR have initiated voluntary repatriation procedures since 2017.

“So for the moment, almost all the people fleeing are economic refugees looking for work and a slight economic improvement, which proves it is that many of these people are in exile for the second time in three years. They come back again and again. It is true that there are real refugees but they are few in number,” reveals a source within the UNHCR in Nakivale.

For these Burundians, the results of the interviews are not satisfactory. They say they are disappointed.

“How cann’t they grant refugee status to someone who is fleeing the Imbonerakure militia (members of the CNDD-FDD youth league), who escapes death, who is released from prison when he was unjustly incarcerated, who is oppressed for his political beliefs!! It is still bizarre and worrying. Even in our country, war is there, but in an imperceptible, yet atrocious way,” some of them maintain.

They suspect a hand from the government of the country they fled.

“The relations that exist between Burundi and Uganda do not favor us, it is certain that Gitega has played its part and continues to mistreat us even in the land of exile,” say Burundians who disclosed it to SOS Médias Burundi, while recommending that the Ugandan government reconsider these results and grant them the refugee status “that we deserve.”

Even if these asylum seekers are rejected, they will not be extradited. They have several chances to appeal and are still assisted in their refugee camps.

“It’s as if nothing had happened! Life goes on. However, the status confers certain advantages such as the acquisition of the refugee identity card or the travel document, otherwise the asylum seeker certificate that they hold is sufficient to access other basic services, protection and humanitarian assistance,” explain UNHCR agents.

The Nakivale camp has more than 140,000 refugees, including more than 33,000 Burundians.

Among the latter, a large number have not yet had asylum status but the UNHCR considers them as refugees who require “assistance and protection”.