Additional crossing points for refugees to be opened

Two additional crossing points on the Tanzania-Burundi border will be opened in coming months to facilitate the return of Burundian refugees living in Tanzania, according to officials. More concerted steps would also be taken to prepare for the return of Burundians living outside Tanzanian camps and those who have been living in Tanzania since the 1970s, known as the "old caseload", the Tripartite Commission on Voluntary Repatriation of Burundian Refugees from Tanzania concluded on Wednesday at the end of its seventh meeting in Arusha, northern Tanzania. The meeting was organised by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and brought together Burundian and Tanzanian government officials working to facilitate the return of an estimated 324,000 refugees living in Tanzania due the decade-long civil war in Burundi. The commission called for the immediate opening of the Makamba-Gisuru crossing, followed by that of the Manyovo-Mugina crossing point in April. The two crossing points would be in addition to two that are already in existence. The first convoy is due to pass through Makamba on Wednesday, with a minimum of two convoys per week per crossing point, the tripartite commission said on Wednesday in a communiqué. The UNHCR and government officials agreed to complete a census of Burundians living in villages, outside the refugee camps, as well as to finalise the budget for the repatriation of a separate group, the old caseload, with a view to both parties returning home as soon as possible. The "old caseload" are refugees who fled ethnic killings in the 1970s and were moved to areas in Tanzania farther away from the border, where they have been living ever since. Added to these announcements, with the refugees beginning to return in considerable numbers - 80,000 in 2003 - the commission acknowledged the difficulties that returning refugee students face with the recognition of their education certificates and called for the relevant documents to be issued. Despite the increased repatriation, the officials did, however, point out the need to establish benchmarks or conditions that need to be met in order to move from the facilitation to the promotion phase of repatriation. The issues, which will include security, cantonment of former rebel fighters and the preparedness of humanitarian organisations on the ground, would be discussed in the next meeting, due to be held in May in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura. Formally closing the meeting, Tanzanian Minister for Home Affairs, Ramadhan Omar Mapuri said the agreement marked "another piece of good news" for Burundian refugees and that all parties "must live up to what they had agreed upon". He said that all sides would gain from the completion of the repatriation process. "For Tanzania, it will ease the burden we bear and let us get on with social and economic development; for Burundi, it will allow them to focus on national reconstruction and the strengthening of democracy and it will add to the credibility of the UN system and to the enormous experience of UNHCR in tackling refugee matters," he said.