UNHCR warns of funds shortage in refugee repatriation

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has said it could reduce, or even suspend, its voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees from Tanzania unless it receives the money required to help hundreds of thousands of the refugees to return home. In a statement issued on Friday in Geneva, the agency said it may also suspend its support for reintegration activities within Burundi it did not receive more funds. "It would be a real tragedy to lose the opportunity of helping Burundian refugees realise their dream of returning home because of lack of money," Wendy Chamberlin, the Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees was quoted as saying. "It will be deeply distressing to all UNHCR staff if we have to let so many refugees down, and in the next few days we will be doing all we can to make sure the international community hears our pleas and understands how much is at stake." UNHCR said since 2001, it had helped 285,000 Burundians return home – 58,000 since the start of 2005 alone. "It is the largest ongoing voluntary repatriation operation anywhere in the world after Afghanistan," UNHCR said. "Nevertheless, there are still at least 400,000 Burundian refugees in neighbouring Tanzania alone, many of whom wish to go home. Out of the US $62 million the agency had appealed for to finance its voluntary repatriation operation to Burundi in 2005, it has received only $29 million – a shortfall of about 52 percent. The agency said it was currently relying on emergency funds from its operational reserve in order to continue its activities. However, it warned that it could rely on such sources for more than a few weeks at the very most. It added the operational reserve was also being heavily drawn on for the Pakistan earthquake emergency, and has to be replenished in case other new emergencies occur. "This funding crisis could not come at a more critical time for the operation and for the region," Chamberlin said, "it comes just as Burundi is returning to peace and security and settling down to the enormous task of reconstruction and stabilization." UNCHR said the election of President Pierre Nkurunziza in August effectively concluded Burundi's process of political transition, a process that began with the 2000 Arusha peace accords. According to the agency, Nkurunziza's election triggered a "remarkable increase" in the number of Burundian refugees returning home. It said since August, between 12,000 and 15,000 people have been repatriating every month, most of them from neighbouring Tanzania, where they fled in the mid-to-late 1990s to seek refuge from "the violence that was tearing Burundi apart". However, the agency said some refugees had been in Tanzania much longer, having fled a previous wave of violence in the 1970s. The new Burundian government faces enormous challenges, the agency said, as it strives to achieve a stable peace: the reconstruction of homes and infrastructure; the creation of health and education facilities; and the reintegration of hundreds of thousands of returning refugees and internally displaced people. For 2005, UNHCR had planned to build up to 23,000 homes, 48 schools with a total of 245 classrooms and 14 health centres. "Because of lack of funds, we have had to revise these numbers to 43 schools and 11 health centres but if the current financial crisis continues we will have to stop all building programmes," Ron Redmond, UNHCR's chief spokesman, said. "Income-generating activities and professional training programmes benefiting some 10,000 people will also be suspended." UNHCR said despite the large number of returns to Burundi over the past few years, there were still 400,000 Burundian refugees in Tanzania alone, a country that is also home to some 150,000 Congolese refugees. Most Burundian refugees live in large camps in the west of the country and have been facing recurrent food shortages, the agency said. Earlier in 2005, UNHCR and the UN World Food Programme urgently appealed for funds in order to avoid further cuts in food rations. "Against this background, any suspension of the voluntary repatriation because of lack of funds would raise very serious questions about the commitment of the international community to share the responsibility of caring for refugees," Redmond said. He added: "With Tanzania itself in the middle of an electoral period, it could only send an unwelcome message at a sensitive time to a country that has shown great generosity towards refugees over the years."