By Arsene Arakaza
On Monday, in the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania, the Head of the Department in charge of refugee affairs within the Ministry of Interior forayed into the camp to sensitize Burundian refugees to return to their homeland. The Burundian refugees in the camp viewed the incident as discrimination against them and denounce the intimidating language used by the authority who seems not to understand their reason for staying in Tanzania.
SUDI Mwakibasi, Head of the Department in charge of refugee affairs in Tanzania, organizes visits to the different camps to talk about the repatriation of Burundian refugees. In Nyarugusu camp, the authority expressed himself in a firm tone threatening that the Burundian refugees of this camp must return to Burundi, Sudi Mwakibasi added that there are no more valid reasons to stay in Tanzania at a time when Burundi knows peace and total stability.
In response, the position of the Burundian refugees who spoke at this meeting diverges from that of the Ministry of the Interior’s envoy. They say that the insecurity situation in Burundi is far from pushing them to take a decided turn to the country.
“Your Excellency, we still hear of crimes being committed in Burundi, notably grenades being thrown here and there, corpses being found in rivers, forced disappearances, all of this is the great obstacle to repatriation” said one of the speakers.
According to the Burundian refugees, it is ironic that Tanzania is forcing them to return just after the Burundian President’s speech on the status of a terrorist group threatening Burundi during his recent three-day visit to Tanzania.
“Even President Evariste Ndayishimiye shows that the country is at war, if he shows his fear of terrorism, it increases our anxiety to return to a country that risks exploding. We will decide to return depending on the positive evolution of the security situation in our country,” they said.
Burundian refugees in Nyarugusu camp ask UNHCR to advocate for the respect of refugees’ rights regarding repatriation.
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