Tanzania January 2007 |
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| Tanzania to send home Burundian refugees, (Zinhua, 2007-01-04):-The Tanzanian government has set aside 100 million shillings (80,000 U.S. dollars) for sending home some 11,000 illegal Burundian refugees from its northwest regions. These illegal immigrants were identified last month through a survey carried out in Kasulu District in Tanzania's north-western region of Kigoma, according to reports reaching here on Thursday. Kasulu District Commissioner Saidi Bwanamdogo said that since political stability and peace had returned to Burundi, there is no need for these illegal refugees to continue living in Tanzania. He added that since Burundi is a new member of the East African Community, its citizens should abide by the rules and regulations of other community members. The region of Kigoma bears the brunt of accommodating hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Though more than 250,000 Burundian refugees have been repatriated since March 2002, there are still some 299,500 refugees living in UN-sponsored camps in Kigoma and its neighbouring region of Kagera, also in Tanzania. United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has set up a special center at Kibondo in northern Kigoma to identify and check the health of some 10,000 Burundian refugees who came to Tanzania in 1972 before sending them to the United States. The first group of these refugees is expected to depart their camps for resettlement in the United States later this year. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |