Burundi is hosting a meeting of the tripartite commission composed of Burundi and Tanzania governments and the UNHCR on the process of voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees. More than 20,000 refugees have returned since September 2017 and almost 30,000 are waiting to be repatriated.
From left to right, Harrison Wingia Mseke, Representative of Tanzanian government, Térence Ntahiraja, Assistant to the Burundian Minister of Interior and Soufiane Adjali, Deputy Representative of UNHCR in Burundi
The purpose of this meeting is to assess the implementation of the recommendations made at the previous tripartite meeting held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in August 2017. “More than 20,000 Burundians have been voluntarily repatriated since September 2017. 13,000 of them returned in 2017 and over 7,000 in 2018,” said Soufiane Adjali, the deputy representative of UNHCR in Burundi on 26 March at the official launch of the three-day meeting of the tripartite commission that is taking place in Bujumbura.
He also said Burundian returnees face many challenges. “They are often received in poor communities and need our support for a while. They want to be reintegrated and have to learn anew how to live in harmony with their compatriots who stayed in the country”.
Adjali called on the members of this tripartite commission to engage in the effective and sustainable reintegration of Burundian returnees.
Harrison Wingia Mseke, Representative of Tanzanian government has said almost 30,000 Burundians refugees who have signed up for voluntary repatriation have not yet been repatriated for logistical reasons. “I hope that the recommendations that will be made in this meeting will allow those Burundians to realize their dream to return to their home country,” he said adding that Burundi is now peaceful.
According to Térence Ntahiraja, Assistant to Burundian Minister of Interior, more than 200,000 Burundian refugees whose majority was not registered in refugee camps abroad, have returned since 2016. He says these refugees came from various countries.
Ntahiraja says Burundi government has sent letters to all neighboring countries sheltering Burundian refugees to come together to facilitate these refugees to return to their motherland.
More than 240, 000 Burundians have sought asylum in Tanzania. Most of them fled political violence in 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would run for a disputed term of office that he ultimately won.
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