Burundi: The Impact of the 2015 Political Crisis in Burundi on Congolese Refugees

Burundi: The Impact of the 2015 Political Crisis in Burundi on Congolese Refugees

The political crisis that has rocked Burundi since April 2015, following another controversial term of the late President Pierre Nkurunziza, has plunged the country into a deep crisis. The massive protests that followed were repressed with unprecedented violence, forcing nearly half a million Burundians to flee to neighboring countries. This situation has also had unexpected repercussions on Congolese refugees who had sought refuge in Burundi. While the host community was desperate to escape the violence, some refugees had to make difficult decisions that complicated their status. Some fled with Burundian nationals and as Burundians. Their situation is complicated both for those who left to settle in countries of the sub-region, leaving their families behind, or those who are repatriated as Burundian refugees. Several requests for resettlement in a third host country have been affected by this situation. 

INFO SOS Médias Burundi 

Hundreds of thousands of Burundians have left their country to seek refuge in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Malawi, seeking security and stability. In this context of instability, some Congolese refugees, who had found refuge in Burundi, found themselves in a precarious situation. 

Contradiction to international rules 

Fearing for their safety and seeing the host community flee, some refugees decided to leave Burundi for various countries in East Africa in particular. 

Others chose to return to their country of origin, hoping to find a semblance of normality. However, this decision was not without complications. Many of them presented themselves as Burundians fleeing their country to obtain refugee status, a contradiction to international rules on the status of refugees. These departures often divided families, leaving some members in refugee camps in Burundi. With the coming on power of the new president Évariste Ndayishimiye in 2020, many refugees returned to Burundi, finding themselves with a double registration.

A refugee from Kinama camp in northeastern Burundi explains: “My mother had gone to Nakivale camp in Uganda with my brothers, and I stayed here with my elderly grandmother. When they returned to Burundi, we had the chance to start the resettlement process, but because of their double registration, our process was interrupted. We too, who had not left, were victims, because we are on the same household number”.

Congolese refugees at Musasa camp in northern Burundi (SOS Médias Burundi)

He is not the only one to have encountered these difficulties.

 “In 2015, when the crisis broke out in Burundi, we saw the host community fleeing, and it made us realize that we were not safe here either. I had to flee again, this time to Kenya, where I found myself as a refugee again. In 2020, I returned to Burundi. In 2023, I was lucky enough to start the resettlement process. I was full of hope, dreaming of a better future. When the fingerprinting system started for resettlement, I was blocked because of double registration, that is, I was a refugee in both Burundi and Kenya, and now my case has been suspended,” another Congolese refugee from Kinama says with regret. 

For others like Biyanda (not her real name), the 2015 crisis had pushed them to think of unimaginable solutions. 

“I went to Congo alone, leaving my husband and children here in the camp, after fleeing the 2015 crisis in Burundi, thinking that the situation had improved in my home country. Unfortunately, I found that insecurity was still there. So I decided to take refuge in the Lusenda camp (South Kivu in eastern Congo). Burundi. In 2024, my family began the resettlement process. Because of my dual nationality and dual registration, our resettlement process was interrupted. I am so worried about loosing my statut because of change of nationality and create tension with my family who think I am the one responsible for this interruption. So I find myself in an even more complicated situation,” laments this refugee settled in the Musasa camp in northern Burundi.

Mixed hope

In 2024, the UNHCR protection branch conducted individual interviews to understand the reasons that led each individual to have dual registration. The cases were then forwarded to Geneva for assessment, but the families concerned remain uncertain about their future.

The political crisis in Burundi has generated complex migratory movements that have affected not only Burundians, but also some Congolese refugees. The search for safety has led to difficult choices and situations of dual registration, leaving many Congolese refugees with a complicated refugee status. Families affected by dual registration live in despair to resume their resettlement process, leaving them in a waiting situation without knowing when their case will take a normal turn.

Burundi is home to nearly 90,000 Congolese refugees, mainly from the South Kivu province in the east of the vast central African country, according to UNHCR. Half of them are young people.

——-

Congolese refugees at Bujumbura airport in the commercial city of Burundi on their way to the United States

Previous Gitega: a primary school still not rebuilt after three months
Next Bujumbura : the problem of transport remains unsolvable

About author

You might also like

Justice En

Tanzania: 6 Tanzanians received 15 years in prison over taking part in lynching two Burundi refugees

Two Burundians living in the Nduta camp were killed last week over allegation of collaborating with a group of refugees in rapping Tanzanian women who go to the fields and

Refugees

Nakivale (Uganda) : polygamy claims victims

In the Nakivale camp in Uganda, several households are broken up, women preferring to leave their husbands who no longer have the means to take care of their households. Men

DRC En

DRC-Goma : displaced people demand the relocation of the Bulengo site after the bombing

The Bulengo displaced persons site, one of the largest in the city of Goma in the North Kivu province, currently shelters more than 478,000 people. These displaced people come from