Government delegation to visit refugees in Tanzania

A Burundi government delegation will visit Burundi refugees in Tanzania on 18 February, to encourage them, among other things, to go home, a spokesman from the Ministry of External Relations and Cooperation told IRIN on Wednesday. The delegation, comprising Francoise Ngendahayo, the Minister for Reintegration and Resettlement of Displaced People and Repatriates, and the governors of Ruyigi and Rutana provinces, from which most of the refugees had fled, would visit camps in the Kigoma area of northwestern Tanzania, a spokeswoman from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed to IRIN. Nicodemus Nduhirubusa from the Burundi Ministry of External Relations and Cooperation emphasised that the visit aimed to put into practice what had been decided at the tripartite meeting on repatriation, held between UNHCR and delegates from Burundi and Tanzania in January 2002. He said the message being put out by the Burundi government was that it was safe to return to Burundi. "Those who are saying it is not safe to return to Burundi are afraid of losing their jobs - people who have jobs because of the presence of the refugees in Tanzania. Also the rebel groups fighting the government do not want the refugees to return, because they will have no more recruits. They are recruiting in the camps in Tanzania. Those are the two main ideas behind people saying that it is not safe to return to Burundi." A UNHCR spokeswoman, Millicent Mutuli, told IRIN that, from UNHCR’s point of view, "the conditions are not right" for refugees to return. Another spokeswoman, based in Tanzania, told IRIN that while UNHCR did not actively promote repatriation as agreed at the tripartite meeting, the organisation would facilitate the return of those who chose to return to Burundi voluntarily by assisting them with transport and giving them blankets, plastic sheeting and kitchen sets. The tripartite commission, established in May 2001 under the Arusha peace accord, would outline a detailed return plan of operation for Burundi refugees when conditions allowed, UNHCR told IRIN in January. The commission’s next meeting is due to be held in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, this month. UNHCR is currently aiding almost 350,000 Burundians in western Tanzania. Another 470,000 reside in Tanzania, but are not receiving help. Some 200,000 of these have been there since the 1970s.