Camps with low refugee populations to close

A camp for Burundian refugees in northwestern Tanzania is due to close in "a few weeks", in efforts to consolidate these facilities as many occupants return home, according to an agreement between Burundi, Tanzania and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. The 5,500 refugees at Karago Camp would relocate to the neighbouring Mtendeli Camp towards the end of April. UNHCR said on Tuesday that these refugees would continue to receive the same aid they were getting in Karago. Under the agreement, all Tanzanian camps with a refugee population of less than 10,000 would be closed to consolidate camps amid the ongoing repatriation programme for Burundian refugees. UNHCR said more than 158,000 Burundian refugees had repatriated since it started its voluntary return programme from Tanzania in March 2002. "We plan to help 85,000 more return this year, but the pace of returns has slowed, numbering 7,800 in the first three months of the year, compared to a high of more than 11,000 a month last summer," the agency said. UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said the refugees' concerns over the availability of basic services in Burundi and the pace of the peace process in the country partially explained the drop in repatriation numbers. She added that funding was also a key constraint for the operation. She said of the US $62.3 million needed for the repatriation programme in 2005, donors had so far provided some $8.5 million, or 14 percent. The UNHCR head of desk for Africa's Great Lakes region, Ursula Aboubacar, said the funding situation for the Burundi repatriation was desperate. "The lack of funds may further hamper smooth reintegration for refugees who have gone home - and without significant additional donations, we may not be able to accommodate an eventual increase in return movements before elections this summer," Aboubacar added. There are more than 240,000 Burundian refugees in Tanzanian camps, with another 200,000 living in settlements and an unknown number in cities and villages. Tanzania is also home to more than 150,000 Congolese refugees and almost 3,000 Somali refugees.