Nyarugusu (Tanzania) : a representative of Burundian refugees dismissed for his alleged opposition to forced repatriation

This is the representative of Burundian refugees in zone 10 of the site. The Nyarugusu camp administration accuses him of not supporting the Tanzanian government’s program for the voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees and of revealing professional secrets. Burundian refugees, for their part, describe the measure as unfounded.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Elihudi Ntirampeba had been heading zone 10 of the Nyarugusu camp since 2021. And it is at the beginning of this week that he was dismissed by the administration of the said camp.

This community leader is accused of serious professional misconduct according to the chairperson of the Nyarugusu camp, representing the Tanzanian government in this camp located in the Kigoma region, in the northwest of the country.

“Disclosure of secrets, not supporting the voluntary repatriation program for Burundian refugees, not supporting the civilian guards when they want to restore order in the camp, not providing information and reports on time, corruption, …”, the list of sins he is accused of is long.

However, he was before glorified by the same administration.

“We wonder what has changed when he was presented as a model leader and a community mediator”, ask refugees, especially Burundians.

For some time, while civilian guards wanted to destroy the stands of small Burundian traders in the zone led by Ntirampeba, they found that the latter had organized themselves to either defend themselves or empty their shops. Or, it was he himself who invested in finding arrested refugees, according to several testimonies in Nyarugusu.

Zone 10 is known among the zones that do not respond massively to voluntary repatriation. Its former leader, Ntirampeba, did not hide his disagreement in meetings with strategies or programs adopted by Tanzanian authorities to force refugees to return so-called voluntarily, which those concerned describe as “forced repatriation”.

This is where Burundians find the source of disagreement between Elihudi Ntirampeba and the administration of the Nyarugusu camp.

Burundian refugees who confided in SOS Médias Burundi praise “a charismatic leader, a defender who does not hide his point of view, a wise man, a mediator who listens to people”. They speak of a dismissal that speaks volumes about the suffering endured by Burundian refugees.

“We have just lost an advisor, a spokesperson.”

They describe the accusations against their favorite leader as unfounded and are worried about his safety.

The one who fled his country in 2015 was quickly replaced by his deputy, a Congolese refugee.

Burundians are asking that their zone inhabited by Burundian nationals be led by a peer who understands their problems and speaks their language.

Nyarugusu is home to more than 110,000 refugees, including more than 50,000 Burundians, the rest being of Congolese origin.

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Elihudi Ntirampeba, the zone chief who was dismissed by the administration of the Nyarugusu camp in Tanzania