Tanzania : camp destruction and pressure on Burundian refugees for forced repatriation

SOS Médias Burundi

Kigoma, January 6, 2026 – More than 3,000 houses have been destroyed in Nyarugusu, leaving hundreds of Burundian families homeless. Under the pretext of “voluntary” repatriation, many refugees denounce a forced return and call on the UN to intervene in what they consider a serious violation of their rights.

Two zones, 12 and 13, are directly affected by this measure taken by the camp administration. The demolitions have left many families homeless and in dire straits.

On Tuesday, as early as 6:00 a.m., zone 13 was plunged into desolation. According to sources on the ground, the operation began at the site called “Bata.”

“They are destroying our homes because we refuse forced repatriation,” denounced a family whose house had been razed. They were ordered to report to the camp leader to register on the repatriation list.

The head of the family explained, “We saved our belongings, but we don’t know where we’ll spend the night.”

Hundreds of refugees are now homeless. Makeshift tents have been hastily erected in the areas used as waiting points before repatriation.

The refugees tried to resist, but in vain. “The police used tear gas to disperse us,” reported a local source. Several people were arrested for “disturbing public order.”

The operation began on Monday in Zone 12. The head of the Nyarugusu camp, Manjenje Siasa, gave seven days to complete the demolition of the entire camp.

“Even the offices in zones 12 and 13 were destroyed, a strong signal,” refugees believe.

According to the camp manager, the Tanzanian government has “more than a hundred buses for a mass repatriation.”

In total, more than 3,000 houses were destroyed in two days.

Nduta is not spared

In Nduta, another large Burundian camp, the operation was scheduled to begin on Tuesday. A source explains that an emergency meeting was convened to “fine-tune the operation and prevent resistance.”

Mtabila scenario

In 2012, more than 60,000 Burundian refugees were forcibly repatriated from the Mtabila camp, in the same Kigoma region of northwestern Tanzania, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.

“I lost my father there.”
“Today, with seven children, I fear history is repeating itself,” confides a refugee from Nyarugusu.

Families are calling on Tanzania and the UNHCR to honor their commitments to refugee protection.

This wave of demolitions follows the 26th meeting of the Tripartite Commission on the Repatriation of Burundian Refugees, held on November 28, 2025. The parties had agreed to “accelerate voluntary repatriation” at a rate of 3,000 returns per week : 2,000 from Nduta and 1,000 from Nyarugusu.

According to several sources, this target could be exceeded “due to the pressure being exerted.” The refugees explain that they are returning out of fear rather than genuine desire.

Last October, the UNHCR, the Burundian consulate, and Tanzanian authorities announced that almost all of the refugees no longer required international protection.

“More than 97% of refugees must return, voluntarily or by force,” said Barbara Bentum Williams Dotse, UNHCR Country Representative.

Officially presented as individual assessments, these interviews reportedly had other objectives, according to the refugees.

The tripartite commission decided that Nduta and Nyarugusu will be permanently closed by March 31, 2026. On that date, “no one will be allowed to remain.”

More than 110,000 Burundian refugees still in Tanzania—most of whom fled the 2015 political crisis triggered by the controversial third term of the late President Pierre Nkurunziza—are sounding the alarm.
They are calling on the UN not to endorse what they consider a violation of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the fundamental legal text that defines who is a refugee, establishes their rights, and sets out the obligations of states, including the principle of non-refoulement and access to decent housing, education, and employment, supplemented by the 1967 Protocol.