Tanzania expels 600 Burundians

A group of 600 Burundians, who had been living in Tanzania for more than two decades, has arrived in Burundi after the government in Dodoma expelled them for being in the country illegally, officials said. "Some women came without their children, others were expelled with their children, leaving their husbands behind," Mohamed Feruzi, governor of Burundi's northeastern province of Muyinga, said on Sunday. The group was expelled on Friday and taken to the border to facilitate their crossing into Muyinga. Feruzi said the returnees had been living with Tanzanian communities and had never acquired refugee status. He said some had fled ethnic killings in Burundi in 1972; others had left to marry Tanzanians. Despite good relations with Tanzania, Feruzi said, Burundian officials had not been informed of the expulsion, and had not been able to prepare for the arrivals. "They were simply handed over to immigration officials at Kobero," he said. Between January and July, at least 1,150 Burundians had been forced out of Tanzania. The expulsions peaked in May when 400 were expelled in one go. "Since then, they have been coming in groups of 20 or 30," Feruzi said. He said he had tried in vain, since May, to hold discussions with Tanzanian officials. The secretary-general of the Burundi Red Cross Society, Anselme Katiyunguruza, said on Sunday the returnees had arrived at the Kobero border on Friday with "nothing but the clothes they had on". He said they reported having been awoken early in the morning and forced to board lorries, leaving behind their belongings and some family members. Katiyunguruza said the Red Cross had distributed rations sufficient for two days to the returnees, but that this was not enough. The Red Cross has also started preparing a transit site at Kinazi in Muyinga to shelter the returnees as they awaited transfer to their villages of origin. However, Katiyunguruza said some returnees could not remember where they came from. Years of ethnic strife in Burundi had prompted hundreds of thousands of people to seek safe haven in neighbouring countries, especially Tanzania, which is thought to host at least 400,000 Burundians. Fabien Yamuremye, head of the government project to support the repatriation and reintegration of war affected people, PARESI, said at least 190,000 Burundian were long-term refugees in Tanzanian villages. jb/js/mw/oss