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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