Repatriation of refugees in Tanzania premature

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) has expressed its concern that Burundi refugees may effectively be forcibly repatriated, contrary to international law, following repeated calls from Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa on them to go back to safe zones in Burundi. In a statement released on Wednesday, JRS says that for a number of reasons, this pressure on Burundi nationals to return is "premature and may lead to further tragedy". To date, peace in Burundi has not been restored, says JRS. Referring to the refusal on the part of rebel groups Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) and Forces nationales pour la liberation (FNL) to stop fighting, JRS says that, as a precondition for return, there must be a cease-fire which is honoured by all parties to the conflict. The agency believes that the forced return of large numbers of people will exacerbate an existing problem in Burundi of large numbers of internally displaced people, thus leading to further insecurity. Land issues may also become a source of conflict, says the agency. Those returning home may find others living on their land, definitive ownership may be hard to determine, and without a "clear, fair and agreed method of adjudication, there is a very high likelihood of future conflict". "Experience shows that large-scale returns in a short space of time can have a further destabilising effect, as happened at the time of the elections in 1993. To avoid future tragedy, it is our view as JRS that repatriation should not be encouraged until the above conditions are fulfilled and the security of the refugees is guaranteed and monitored on their return to Burundi." While recognising the generosity of the Tanzanian government in hosting large numbers of refugees, JRS calls on the European Union, as the major donor to the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), and the Tanzanian government to "exercise its considerable influence in order to ensure the protection of the human rights of the refugees within the Tanzanian territory and to prevent a potentially disastrous premature return". Meanwhile, mixed messages are also being put out by the Burundi government, led by President Pierre Buyoya, and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which assists almost 350,000 refugees in western Tanzania. Nicodemus Nduhirubusa of the Burundi foreign ministry told IRIN on 13 February that the message being put out by the Burundi government was that it was safe to return. "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," he added. By contrast, a UNHCR spokeswoman, Millicent Mutuli, told IRIN on the same date that from UNHCR’s point of view, "the conditions are not right" for refugees to return. Another spokeswoman, based in Tanzania, added that while UNHCR did not actively promote repatriation, as agreed at recent tripartite meetings between representatives from the Tanzanian and Burundi governments and UNHCR, 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. Apart from some 350,000 refugees being assisted by UNHCR in Tanzania, another 470,000 reside there, but do not receive help. Some 200,000 of these have been there since the 1970s.