1. Home
  2. East Africa
  3. Burundi

Aid plea for repatriating refugees

[Tanzania] Burundi refugees waiting to say goodbye to families and friends who are repatriating,
Lukole A camp. IRIN
Burundian refugees in a Tanzania camp
Action by Churches Together (ACT), a network of churches and humanitarian agencies, appealed on Wednesday for US $150,208 to help thousands of Burundian refugees said to be spontaneously returning home from camps in western Tanzania. In its appeal, issued from Geneva, ACT said that since 1 May, when there was a change of presidency in Burundi, many refugees in five camps in Kibondo District had opted to go back home before official repatriation plans were concluded. In May, ACT said, 5,500 refugees returned spontaneously to Burundi. The government of Tanzania, in conjunction with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and ACT, through the Lutheran World Federation, set up the first refugee camp in Kibondo in 1994 following a failed coup in Burundi in October 1993, which caused a large number of people to flee into Tanzania. ACT said since 1994, the number of camps had increased to five, hosting about 165,190 refugees. "The Lutheran World Federation, with UNHCR collaboration, would like to provide some minimum assistance," ACT said. The aid includes construction and managing transit centres, provision of water and sanitation facilities, security, luggage bags and transport. Meanwhile, an international refugee advocacy group, Refugees International (RI), said it recently sent an assessment mission to Tanzania, which found that the refugees were facing difficult conditions in the camps: a reduction in food rations and a restriction of movement imposed by the government. RI urged the UNHCR to "protect and search for solutions for refugees". RI said the flow of refugees from Burundi to Tanzania was "now greater that the movement home" because of intensified fighting in some areas in Burundi. UNHCR said that at least 15,000 people had arrived from Burundi in the past 12 months. "Tanzania's 357,000 refugees in camps along the Burundian border face increasing impoverishment and insecurity," RI reported in a statement. Among other recommendations, RI said the UNHCR should fulfil its protection mandate by filling vacancies for protection officers with competent staff, and appealed to donors to fund appeals for aid to refugees in the Tanzanian camps. It urged the government of Tanzania immediately ease restrictions on refugees' freedom of movement in and around the camps.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Get the day’s top headlines in your inbox every morning

Starting at just $5 a month, you can become a member of The New Humanitarian and receive our premium newsletter, DAWNS Digest.

DAWNS Digest has been the trusted essential morning read for global aid and foreign policy professionals for more than 10 years.

Government, media, global governance organisations, NGOs, academics, and more subscribe to DAWNS to receive the day’s top global headlines of news and analysis in their inboxes every weekday morning.

It’s the perfect way to start your day.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian today and you’ll automatically be subscribed to DAWNS Digest – free of charge.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join