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Burundi refugee numbers prompt top-level UNHCR visit

    NAIROBI
    The UNHCR regional director for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, Wairimu Karago, is undertaking a fact-finding meeting in Tanzania this week in the context of heightened insecurity in Burundi, which has prompted a substantial increase in the number of refugees fleeing to Tanzania. The number fleeing the conflict in Burundi to Tanzanian refugee camps rose from 2,199 in September to 8,132 in October and 9,558 in November, according to a UNHCR press release. Karago, who visited Lukole refugee camp in Ngare district and Mbuba refugee transit camp earlier this week, is scheduled to meet Home Affairs Minister Ali Ameir Mohamed and Deputy Foreign Minister Emmanuel Mwambulukutu on Friday for key discussions, UNHCR added. Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa warned last week the country was finding it ever more difficult to cope with the number of refugees it is hosting.

    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

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