afrol News, 3 June - Refugee repatriation from Tanzania again has come in an odd light after the numbers of returning Burundian refugees has risen sharply over the last few weeks. Now, even the UN refugee agency UNHCR is questioning the "voluntariness" of these repatriations.

- The number of Burundian refugees returning home from refugee camps in western Tanzania has risen sharply over the last few weeks amid rising concern that that their return is not fully voluntary, said UNHCR spokesperson Peter Kessler in Geneva today.

In May alone, more than 4,000 Burundian refugees, who have been living in camps in Kibondo, western Tanzania - or 30 per cent of spontaneous returns this year - have gone home to the southern Burundi provinces of Ruyigi and Makamba under their own means, despite the prevailing insecurity there.

- Returning refugees cite the declining levels of assistance as one of the major reasons for return, Mr Kessler said. "Others lament new measures imposed by local authorities, which restrict their movements and now confine them to the camps."

- Before the recent restrictions, refugees were able to move freely within a 4-km radius of the camps. Refugees had used this opportunity to cultivate crops or engage in other activities to supplement their food and other needs, Mr Kessler stated.

He added that many of the total 350,000 Burundian refugees in Tanzania's refugee camps who normally supplement their food by going out to work in nearby farms are now wholly dependent on food rations, which were halved at the beginning of the year because of shortages, worsening their burden.

Meanwhile, food shortages at the beginning of the year had caused the rations given to the Burundian refugees to be halved, though they were partly restored in April to 72 percent of normal rations.

- We are particularly concerned about the situation of more than 35,000 Burundians who have sought asylum in Tanzania in the last one and a half years, Mr Kessler said. "We feel that they may be particularly vulnerable, as they may not yet have found suitable ways of supplementing the assistance given to them by WFP and UNHCR."

This is not the first time the "voluntariness" of refugee repatriation from Tanzania has been questioned. Earlier this year, a large operation to repatriate the remaining Rwandan refugees in Tanzania had caused widespread concern.

A deal between the governments of Rwanda and Tanzania and the UNHCR had led to a rapid and poorly coordinated repatriation of a large number of Rwandan exiles. It was documented that Tanzanian government officials had given Rwandan refugees an ultimatum to leave.

Several Rwandan refugees later stated that they had been pressured to leave the Tanzanian camps and that they had not been given sufficient time to prepare for repatriation. UNHCR had also been unable to fulfil its registration duties in the sudden giant operation.

The UN refugee agency, after this affair, has been cautious not to repeat such sudden operations, which had led to widespread criticism.

The Tanzanian government however continue to pressure the large groups of refugees still living in their country. Tanzania, remaining a very poor country, has hosted some of Africa's largest refugee populations for a decade, mostly due to the crisis in the Great Lakes area. The country has barely received international aid to cover the costs of hosting these refugees.

By Rainer Chr. Hennig

© afrol News

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