Additional refugee crossing point opens

A new border crossing point opened on Wednesday between Burundi and Tanzania, facilitating the movement of a convoy of 983 Burundians who returned home after years of living in refugee camps in western Tanzania, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported. This crossing point paves the way for more UNHCR-facilitated returns to areas that were previously inaccessible in Burundi, the agency reported. The opening of the crossing follows an agreement signed on 22 January between the government of Burundi, Tanzania and the UNHCR, during a tripartite commission meeting in Arusha, Tanzania. UNCHR reported that until Wednesday, it had been facilitating returns of Burundian refugees mainly to northern and central Burundi. The new crossing brings to three the refugee border crossings between the two countries. The convoy of 22 trucks left Kibondo District, Tanzania, for the province of Ruyigi in Burundi through the Makamba-Gisuru crossing. The 983 returnees had been staying in Nduta, Karago and Mtendeli camps in Kibondo District, UNHCR reported. It added that the UNHCR deputy director for Africa, Zobida Hassim-Ashagrie, accompanied the convoy. Some 60,000 refugees in Kibondo come from Ruyigi, and UNHCR expects around half of them to return home this year. Those returning to Muyinga and neighbouring provinces in the north enter Burundi through the Kobero crossing point, UNHCR said. Those from Cankuzo province in the east enter through Murusugamba. The agency added that if security continued to improve, a fourth crossing point would open later this year to Makamba Province in the south. On 20 January, the UNHCR sent an emergency team from Geneva to Burundi to look into possibilities of opening new offices in Ruyigi and Makamba provinces and expanding the agency's presence in Muyinga. The move followed improved security in parts of Burundi after the signing of a cease-fire deal and a power-sharing agreement in November 2003 between the transitional government in Bujumbura and the main rebel movement in the country, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces de defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) faction led by Pierre Nkurunziza. UNHCR reported that at least 300,000 Burundian refugees still live in Tanzania's camps. Since it started facilitating voluntary repatriation in 2002, at least 70,000 refugees had returned home with the agency's help. Another 45,000 refugees returned to Burundi on their own in 2003.