Plans afoot for last Zanzibari refugees to return

Over 500 refugees from the Zanzibari islands of Unguja and Pemba were now being registered at Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya in preparation for their voluntary repatriation later this month, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski reported on Tuesday.

The refugees were among more than 2,000 Zanzibaris who fled bloody political clashes on the islands in late January, when the police engaged in a violent clampdown on supporters of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), who were protesting against what they considered to have been fraudulent general elections in October last year.

The human rights watchdog Amnesty International reported in early March that its preliminary investigation of January’s violence had confirmed torture, including rape and beatings, by the security forces, as well as indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force against civilians.

Last month, more than 600 Tanzanian refugees were repatriated from a makeshift camp in the Kenyan fishing village of Shimoni, south of Mombasa, to which the refugees had fled in January. Several hundred others had found shelter with local villagers on the Kenyan coast.

A UNHCR monitoring mission to Unguja, Zanzibar’s main island, and Pemba last week reported that the situation on the islands had improved, and that “no reports of harassment had been received from those who have recently returned home”, Janowski stated.

The government of Tanzania had given assurances that, upon their return to Pemba, the refugees would not be prosecuted as a group for their involvement in the banned political demonstrations which had turned violent in January.

A handful of the returning refugees currently faced criminal charges, ranging from destruction of property to minor traffic violations, the refugee agency added.