President ties rise in small arms to refugee inflows

Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa repeated on Friday his accusations that refugees were to blame for the increase in small arms in the country and said the problem could be solved by creating safe havens for civilians within their own country. Mkapa said that although the problem of guns had not yet reached "crisis level", refugees were to blame for an increase in armed crime and trafficking of weapons in western Tanzania. "The truth is that the proliferation of small arms is a result of refugees entering our country, a problem which is beyond our capacity to solve," he said. In his speech before destroying over 1,000 small arms in the Tanzanian commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, Mkapa said that he was pushing for the international community to adopt a system of creation of safe havens in conflict-torn countries, with a view to preventing internal strife from spilling into neighbouring countries, who must then bear the burden of refugee influxes. "Efforts of the government to promote this policy are going on at this moment and it is for all citizens - and especially the civil society - to help popularise this policy," he said. Tanzania has hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees following a decade of conflict in the Great Lakes region. Some 500,000 Congolese and Burundians are living in refugee camps in Kagera and Kigoma regions, and the government estimates that there are another 300,000 Burundians who have fled the war but are living in Tanzanian villages, rather than registering as refugees. Observers said on Monday that the president's calls reflected the government's frustration over the refugee situation. "There is a need for engagement on these issues," an analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, told IRIN. "The president has repeatedly called for this, but the international community does not seem to support such an idea." "With regard to arms, the refugees themselves might not be to blame, but the refugee situation in western Tanzania is being exploited in order to facilitate the movement of weapons," the analyst added. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Monday that it took Mkapa's concerns "very seriously" and was collaborating with his government on various law enforcement and development initiatives. UNHCR's spokesperson in Tanzania, Ivana Unluova, said her agency was funding a US $1-million annual security package, which included paying for all policing in areas where refugee camps had been set up. "We are also funding a separation facility in Kagera region, where refugees are screened and combatants are separated in order to preserve the civilian nature of the camps," she said. She added that there was another new initiative among the UN, Tanzanian authorities and the army to look into security and allegations of the proliferation of small arms in Kigoma, the other refugee-affected area in western Tanzania. Unluova said that later in September, Dar es Salaam would host an international conference where representatives from 11 countries in Southern Africa and the Great Lakes region would discuss the protection challenges faced by refugees on the continent. During the meeting, Mkapa is expected to present his "safe-haven concept", while the UN will push for other possible solutions, such as burden sharing and ways of helping use refugees to encourage development.