Representatives of Burundian refugees who fled civil war in the country in 1972 on Monday met residents of the southern Makamba Province who had taken over their land, in a bid to resolve the conflict.
"They are attempting to find a solution to the conflict by addressing the issue together," Reverien Ndikuriyo, governor of Makamba Province, said at the beginning of the three-day meeting in Makamba town.
According to the governor, about 207,000 Burundian refugees live in several areas in western Tanzania.
"Half of them fled from Kibago, Nyanza-lac and Makamba communes in Makamba Province," he added, saying some of their neighbours who remained in their villages had appropriated the property, including land, of those who left.
Ndikuriyo said those who lived in Tanzania had been making cross-border trips seeking to evict those settled on their land.
The meeting is also being attended by district administrators, community leaders, elders and members of parliament representing constituencies in Makamba. They will review the issue of how Burundian law could facilitate resettlement, and how land conflicts had been resolved in countries with similar problems.
The United Nations Development Programme and the Norwegian Refugee Council sponsored the Makamba gathering.
Civil war between the majority Hutu community and minority Tutsi in 1972 left thousands dead while thousands more fled to neighbouring countries.
Burundi has been divided by animosity between the Hutu and the Tutsi since independence from Belgium in 1962. The assassination of the country's first democratically elected president, a Hutu, in 1993 triggered another 12-year ethnic war in which 300,000 people were killed and thousands more fled, mostly to Tanzania.
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"They are attempting to find a solution to the conflict by addressing the issue together," Reverien Ndikuriyo, governor of Makamba Province, said at the beginning of the three-day meeting in Makamba town.
According to the governor, about 207,000 Burundian refugees live in several areas in western Tanzania.
"Half of them fled from Kibago, Nyanza-lac and Makamba communes in Makamba Province," he added, saying some of their neighbours who remained in their villages had appropriated the property, including land, of those who left.
Ndikuriyo said those who lived in Tanzania had been making cross-border trips seeking to evict those settled on their land.
The meeting is also being attended by district administrators, community leaders, elders and members of parliament representing constituencies in Makamba. They will review the issue of how Burundian law could facilitate resettlement, and how land conflicts had been resolved in countries with similar problems.
The United Nations Development Programme and the Norwegian Refugee Council sponsored the Makamba gathering.
Civil war between the majority Hutu community and minority Tutsi in 1972 left thousands dead while thousands more fled to neighbouring countries.
Burundi has been divided by animosity between the Hutu and the Tutsi since independence from Belgium in 1962. The assassination of the country's first democratically elected president, a Hutu, in 1993 triggered another 12-year ethnic war in which 300,000 people were killed and thousands more fled, mostly to Tanzania.
bn/jn/mw/oss
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