UN refugee agency opens new border crossing with Tanzania

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on Tuesday, the opening of a fourth crossing on the Burundian and Tanzanian border. The crossing, from the Kigoma area in Tanzania to the Burundian province of Makamba, is the first such UNHCR border facility to be established in southern Burundi. The opening marks an expansion of a repatriation programme for Burundian refugees in Tanzania. Since the beginning of the year at least 52,000 refugees have returned home from Tanzanian camps. This brings the total number of repatriations to 188,000 since the operations began in 2002, UNHCR said. UNHCR reported that its officials and those of the Burundian and Tanzanian governments would on Wednesday hold their eighth tripartite meeting to review the repatriation operation. The meeting will also serve to evaluate the implementation of recommendations from earlier tripartite meetings, UNHCR added. As a test run for future operations, UNHCR had on 1 June launched twice weekly repatriation convoys through the Makamba border centre. Some 500 refugees left the Mtabila refugee camp in Tanzania destined for the Mabanda transit centre in Makamba. The Mtabila camp is currently host to approximately 61,830 Burundian refugees. On the Net: UN refugee agency begins operations through new crossing point