IRIN special report on returning Burundian refugees

Since March 28, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been facilitating the return of Burundian refugees from Tanzania as part of a tripartite agreement among the Burundi and Tanzanian governments, and the UN agency. While UNHCR is not promoting the return of the refugees, it is assisting those who have voluntarily opted to return. In contrast, both the Tanzanian and the Burundi governments are actively promoting the repatriation process. As of 3 May, over 5,000 refugees had been assisted with their return from western Tanzania's Ngara, Kibondo and Kasulu districts, and almost 60,000 had registered for repatriation. This figure represents over 16 percent of the Burundi refugee population living in camps in Tanzania. The vast majority of those registering are in Karago, Nduta and Mtendeli camps in Tanzania's Kigoma Region and wish to return to Burundi's southern provinces, which UNHCR does not consider to be safe for returnees. Currently, therefore, repatriation is restricted. Only one of the three official border crossings - Kobero - between Burundi and Tanzania is open. The refugees crossing there are currently returning to Muyinga, Cankuzo, Ruyigi, Karuzi and Gitega provinces. UNHCR officials told IRIN that both the Tanzanian and Burundi governments were keen to see the opening of the other two crossings, at Ruyigi and Makamba, in order to expedite the process. Tharcisse Ntimpirangeza, an adviser in the office of the Burundi vice-president on matters pertaining to repatriation, commented that the Ruyigi crossing would be opened very soon, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. UNHCR officials said, however, that the UN still considered both crossing points to be unsafe. ATTITUDES TO RETURNING HOME: "There is no-one here who is not considering repatriation, but the problem is where to go - the security of where to go. If we hear that the rebels are no longer fighting, that there are no operations, then we will all repatriate," one man in the Lukole A camp in Ngara District told IRIN. "I am going back to our commune [Giteranyi commune, Muyinga Province] because it is safe. Relatives of mine came to the camps to visit, and said it was safe. I can't say it's safe in the whole country, but where I'm going it is safe compared to other places, so I have to go," one woman said. Another woman commented: "I am tired of being a refugee. I was born in a refugee camp in Rwanda, I grew up as a refugee, and it seems I will get older and older, and still be a refugee. I wish to be in my country and see what is happening there." Several refugees in Ngara expressed fears that even though some areas might be considered safe now, the situation could change very rapidly. "The northern provinces are currently considered to be safe - like Muyinga, Kirundo and Ngozi," said one. "Why wouldn't they suddenly become dangerous again?" Another said, "I'm just going. I don't know what will happen. Probably I will die," while another stated, "I can't stay here, because my relatives have gone back home. So I'm going to go. But we don't know what will happen to us. The ones we ran away from [the army] are still leading the country." "I will have to go back to Burundi, because the government of Tanzania is insisting that no-one stays here," one woman said. Movement of refugees across the border and in the surrounding countryside has been heavily restricted in recent weeks by the Tanzanian government. Previously, many had taken the opportunity to return across the border on foot to their homes to see what conditions were like. "The place where I am going [Giteranyi] is safe. I went there one month ago to check. We had visitors from Burundi saying it is safe, and then I went to see for myself. A lot of people used to do that, but now we can't, because we are restricted to the camps," said one man.

Burundi refugees unload at Kobero border crossing

Messages sent back from those who have already returned are also of great importance. Golam Abbas, head of the UNHCR office in Ngara, which hosts about 115,000 Burundians in three separate camps, told IRIN that now was a crucial moment for the whole repatriation process. "The messages being sent back by those who have returned are essential. If it is seen that returning home is sustainable," he said, "it will be a pull-factor, and more will follow." RESTRICTION TO THE CAMPS: Recent moves by the Tanzanian government to strictly confine the refugees within the camps are causing great concern. "The issue of firewood is a big problem. We don't know what to do. Some people are still going into the bush to find it, but they have to go as far as 20-40 km to find dead wood. Some are selling their rations to local Tanzanians in exchange for firewood, or some do work in exchange for it. But they go to prison if they are caught," one refugee told IRIN. While the Tanzanian government is trying to prevent environmental degradation caused by refugees chopping down trees in the area, UNHCR does not have funding to provide firewood in the camps. Asked if he thought it was safe to return to Burundi, one refugee stated: "No it's not safe, but I am going home because I don't know what else to do. I used to go into the bush for wood and sell it to make some money. Nowadays we are restricted. If we are caught outside, we are forced back to our country. The thing I was doing to make a living has been taken away from me." A UNHCR official confirmed that recently between 30 and 40 refugees had been arrested and imprisoned for several days after having been caught outside the camps. Some of them may have been looking for firewood, others working in surrounding fields as it was weeding time, he said. The police presence outside the camps had significantly increased, he added, which was making the refugees suspect that "something is going to happen". Rumours about forced repatriation were rife in the camps. The governmental delegations who had visited the camps in February and March of this year to encourage the refugees to go home had made it very clear that Tanzania was for Tanzanians, and Burundi for Burundians. CHOOSING TO REMAIN IN THE CAMPS: A group of alleged Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) rebel supporters told IRIN why they would not be returning home. "I will go back to Burundi when peace has been obtained. I suspect people are repatriating for other reasons, not because there is peace. They think they will be forcibly sent back by the Tanzanian government. They don't want to be sent by force, so they are leaving now," said one man. "People who are repatriating are not going because there is peace. They are saying that death is death, they are giving up and returning in despair," said another. "We believe that the violence is going to erupt again in a massive way, to reoccur on a big scale. The army does not respect the government, soldiers decide to conduct killing without the permission of their superiors," said another. "Those who are repatriating will die in big numbers. Ninety-nine percent of people who fled to Tanzania fled because of the army, so how can they go back to the same army? Nothing has been changed. If you put yourself in our shoes, can you really expect us to repatriate?" Asked if some areas in Burundi were safe for returnees, he replied: "If your head is suffering, is your whole body not suffering?" He added that he could not, however, discourage others from repatriating. "In the public meeting addressed by the [Burundi and Tanzanian] government delegates, they said if any leader tries to object to repatriation, he will be apprehended and imprisoned." FEARS ABOUT THE ARMY: Many of those who spoke to IRIN expressed fears about the Burundi army. "When the Burundi government delegation which came to the camps was asked if the army had been mixed, they explained that, according to them, it has. But we really have a lot of doubts about it. The army is doing freely whatever it pleases," one man said. "Peace was destroyed by the army, and the same army is still in control," said another. "The Arusha agreement states that the army must be mixed, but now they are repatriating before doing so." "There will never be peace with the current army. That is the main cause of the rebels who are fighting," said one man. "If the rebels were integrated in the army, we believe that all of us would be able to repatriate," said another. "The mediators to the conflict need to advocate that all the rebel groups get together and join forces, and then reintegrate them into the army." Vice-presidential adviser Ntimpirangeza described the army issue as being a "delicate problem". He acknowledged that the ethnic mixing of the army between Tutsis and Hutus was still at an unsatisfactory level, but said the issue would be solved, slowly, during the transition period. "People talk and talk, but to act takes time," he said. "People want peace. To get it they want to see a mixed army, and they want to see it happen very rapidly. They think nothing has been done, because it's not happening immediately." LAND ISSUES: Several refugees expressed concern about property that they owned. They said that in cases where land or houses had been taken over by illegal (primarily Tutsi) tenants since the Hutu refugees had fled, they said they did not know how, or if, they could reclaim it. The head of the UNHCR office in Ngara also told IRIN that the government of Burundi needed to clarify its position on this issue. "All of the properties have been taken over by Tutsis. I am not sure what the government policy is on that," one refugee told IRIN. "I don't have information from people who have gone back about the land issue, but I had a house which was taken over by Tutsis in 1993. Someone I know saw this and told me. Now I can't go back and reclaim my house, because I could be killed," said another. Ntimpirangeza acknowledged to IRIN that it was a very difficult problem to solve. But he said such problems should be solved at village level in special committees which had been established. In a case that could not be solved at that level, he said, the owners of the property could take the tenants to court. "It would not be a problem if they have no money," he said. "For those who have no money, the government will arrange lawyers," he said. "We are confident that we can solve this, because the whole population has been sensitised, and everyone is concerned that it should be solved." The really acute problem would concern those refugees who fled from Burundi as early as 1972, especially from the province of Makamba, he added. HOME AT LAST:

Burundi woman surveys food assistance, blankets, sleeping mat, cooking pots and plastic sheeting from UNHCR, at transit camp in Songore

At the transit camp in Songore, Muyinga Province, where the refugees spend one night before being transferred to their home communes, some described their feelings to IRIN. "I don't know what I'm going back to, but will find out when I get there. I am very happy to be back home, and I am happy with the assistance [food, kitchen sets, plastic sheeting, blankets, etc] from UNHCR," said one woman. "When I was in Burundi, I saw my mother and father being killed. Then I went to Tanzania, but the life there was not very good. I will be very happy to go back to Gitega again. In Tanzania there were too many thieves in the camps, everything was taken from me," said a man. Among the returnees, there were seven unaccompanied minors. One 14-year-old who had fled to Tanzania on his own when he was eight, said his parents had been killed in the war, and that he was forced to flee. He didn't know when they had died. "Life was bad in Tanzania, it was very difficult to find food," added. "I wasn't happy, because I was on my own, I didn't know anyone." "I have a brother and I'm going back to find him now. I'm sure I will find him," he added. Another unaccompanied 16-year-old said he didn't know what had happened to his parents. His home had been burned and destroyed, and he had fled in 1999. "In Tanzania we were in a bad situation. I am very happy to be back," he added. Another woman said she was delighted to be going back to Gitega Province, where life would be very good. She would not be leaving Gitega again, she added. Regional analysts and aid workers in Burundi agree, however, that without a ceasefire in place the future for those choosing to return remains uncertain.