Nduta (Tanzania): the administration refuses to rebuild and replace the latrines

Almost all the latrines are full and several of them are overflowing while refugees are warning and the camp administration turning a blind eye. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The refugees report that in almost all areas, the state of the latrines is very critical.

“Some are not working at all, others are full to the brim and others are overflowing into the public roads,” lament Burundian refugees who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi.

For the moment, the council of local leaders has contacted the administration to avoid the worst and the emergence of diseases caused by dirty hands, which are highly contagious, especially among children.

“We were already expecting the same response, which was the case,” says one of the local leaders.

“If you want good living conditions, go home before December 2024, there is funding to build houses and nice latrines at home, not here in any case!” the president of the camp replied to them, as Burundian refugees desperately point out.

These Burundians find this reaction as another form of constraint to “voluntary repatriation,” which they describe as “forced.”

Some have tried to dig “small holes to use as toilets”, but they risk harsh punishments, including being forcibly repatriated, they regret.

Statistics provided by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an organization that builds homes and toilets for refugees in the Nduta camp in Tanzania, show that the camp “needs a reconstruction of all latrines”. “No new toilets have been built or renovated in the last 4 years”.

The groups of people affected by the lack of latrines, according to the same NGO, include children, the elderly and disabled, as well as the most vulnerable refugees. It fears diseases linked to the lack of hygiene.

NRC regrets that it does not have the approval of the administration to carry out this task and explains that it does not even have authorization to bring related equipment into the camp.

The monitoring agents who went around the villages to survey the used latrines have even been suspended. “How can we continue to make reports when nothing is done,” explains one of these agents.

The situation is worse according to refugees.

“Everywhere we walk, we can see human excrement, children play in it easily,” noted SOS Médias Burundi reporters.

“Most refugees do not have the financial means to build toilets. They prefer to go into the bush not far from their camp, or wait until night to relieve themselves in the gutters or on street corners. Which is not without consequences,” say refugees who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi.

Burundian refugees are asking humanitarian organizations and the UNHCR to find a solution to this problem that threatens people’s lives.

The Nduta camp has more than 58,000 Burundian refugees.