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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
BURUNDI-TANZANIA: "Limitations" in refugee camps forcing hundreds to leave
DAR ES SALAAM, 15 May 2003 (IRIN) - Hundreds of Burundian refugees reported to be voluntarily repatriating from two camps in western Tanzania are doing so because of "the reduction in food rations and the restrictions on economic activities outside the camps," a humanitarian organisation has said.
In a statement, the Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service (TCRS), an organisation that manages Karago and Mtendeli camps, said that while some refugees cited increased hopes for peace because of the 30 April change of presidency in Burundi, most put their inability to supplement the shortfall in rations as their reason for leaving.
"The large majority of refugees now repatriating have only recently arrived in Tanzania," TCRS Director Duane Poppe said. "Among the reasons for departure mentioned by the refugees were bad conditions in the refugee camps in western Tanzania, where food rations had been cut by 50 percent since February and only recently increased to 72 percent."
"These cuts primarily impact the latest of the refugee arrivals, since they have not established any supplementary livelihood activities," Poppe said.
In early 2003, refugee rations were cut to 50 percent of the recommended daily minimum, following what the UN World Food Programme (WFP) called "supply pipeline problems". By mid-April, WFP told IRIN that cereal rations were back to 72 percent, and that it hoped that refugees would be receiving full rations by July.
By 10 May, TCRS said, nearly 2,000 Burundians, mostly women with their children destined for Gisuru, in Ruyigi province, had left the refugee camps and walked the 65 km to the border. TCRS predicted that a total of 10,000 to 15,000 "might eventually be part of this spontaneous repatriation movement".
As many refugees still maintained land under cultivation at home, the agency suggested that strong economic interests were also contributing to their return.
On Wednesday, Radio Burundi quoted Ruyigi governor Isaac Bujaba as saying that 2,000 people had returned since 4 May and that they were received at the Nyabitare camp, Gisuru commune in eastern Burundi, where they were awaiting vehicles to take them to their places of origin.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told IRIN on Tuesday that it was not facilitating the return of Burundians to the provinces of Ruyigi, Rutana and Makamba because of insecurity in those regions, but stressed that those who opted to return "should be supported" and to that end, there would be coordination between humanitarian organisations in Burundi and Tanzania.
While in Tanzania on an official visit on Monday, Burundi's new president Domitien Ndayizeye joined his Tanzanian counterpart, President Benjamin Mkapa, in calling for the repatriation of Burundian refugees so that "they could participate in the new political dispensation" in Burundi.
However, TCRS believed that a total voluntary repatriation remained unlikely. "As they walk away from deteriorating conditions in the camps and towards an uncertain future in Burundi, the refugees are caught in a continuing dilemma between insecurity and unmet basic needs," Poppe said.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Food Security, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs
[ENDS]
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