Tanzania should obey regional and international conventions on refugees

Tatien Sibomana “Implementing this decision requires consultation with various conventions governing refugees.”

Tatien Sibomana, one of the Burundi opposition politicians, has said on Monday 30 January 2017 that the decision to ban the refugees’ entry must be taken in compliance with international and regional conventions on refugees.

The Tanzanian government has banned the entry of refugee groups from the Great Lakes region, as recently said by Tanzanian Home Affairs, Minister Mwigulu Nchemba.

“Implementing this decision requires consultations with various conventions governing refugees around the world, the African continent and the region as well”, says Sibomana.

The International Convention on refugees determines the obligations of the constituent countries. That are the dignity and honor towards refugees and the respect of the human rights.

The Tanzanian Minister of Home Affairs has said they decided to ban the entry of refugees, firstly because refugees have partly worsened the problem of illegal firearms and increased incidents of armed robbery. Second, because peace prevails in the Great Lakes region.

Sibomana says the statement by the Tanzanian Government that peace is prevalent in the region is not true. “There are Burundian refugees in neighboring countries, following the crisis caused by President Nkurunziza third term bid in office. The politico-security situation is not yet promising”, he says.

Sibomana says there are two kinds of refugees: “Some flee the country because of the worsening economic situation while others flee due to politico-security problems. Both groups need to be respected”.

Térence Ntahiraja, Spokesman for Burundi Home Affairs Ministry, declines to communicate his point of view about the measure banning refugee groups as the ministry has not yet got a copy.

Tanzania has received 364,723 refugees from Burundi from April 2015 until 31 December 2016, according to the UNHCR report. Since January 2017, Tanzania has already taken 2230 Burundian refugees and the flow keeps increasing.