15,000 refugees return home due to "hard life" in camps

About 15,000 Burundian refugees who had been living in camps in western Tanzania returned home in May due to what they said was a "hard life" in the camps, an official from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday. The UN agency's country director, Stefano Severe, told IRIN that the spontaneous return of the refugees, through the conflict-ridden Makamba and Ruyigi provinces in southeast Burundi, was risky. "The UNHCR gave assistance to spontaneous returnees in the eastern province of Ruyigi," he said. He added that UNHCR gave the refugees minimal aid packages and Burundi's Ministry for the Resettlement of Refugees provided them with transport and medical aid. Severe said the UNHCR has to revise its aid to returnees in the southern provinces, and that an inter-agency mission would visit the area soon to assess the situation. "The security situation was uncertain in April and now it is improving, but there are still many acts of banditry," he said.