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The Government of Burundi is Unable to Repatriate All Refugees in the First
Semester of 2008


Burundi Réalités (Bujumbura)


NEWS
5 December 2007
Posted to the web 5 December 2007
Bujumbura

The tripartite meeting of Burundi, Tanzania and UNHCR ended yesterday without
reaching an agreement. The aim of this meeting was to analyse the feasibility
of repatriating more than 120,000 refugees from Tanzania back to Burundi.

The Tanzanian delegation has a firm conviction that all Burundian refugees must
be repatriated before the end June 2008. The government of Burundi does not
share this opinion with due to a lack of adequate preparation.



The government of Burundi is currently faced with a serious lack of financial
means. The Burundian government still has a chance to demand additional time.
The Tanzanian government plans to close all refugee camps after June. UNHCR has
already assisted more than 320, 000 returnees since 2002. 120,000 plus refugees
who fled Burundi due to the turmoil that followed the killing of President
Ndadaye in 1993 remain in Tanzania today.

Only 20 percent of refugees who fled to Tanzania in 1972 are willing to return
to Burundi. The remaining 80 percent prefer to be naturalized Tanzanians.


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